Old Order Amish: Their Enduring Way of Life
- ISBN-10
- 0801844266
- ISBN-13
- 9780801844263
- Category
- History / United States / State & Local / General
- Pages
- 187
- Language
- English
- Published
- 1993
- Publisher
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Author
- Donald B. Kraybill
Description
Thoroughly out of place in modern America - yet powerfully reminiscent of the American past - the Old Order Amish inspire both curiosity and admiration. But Amish life is far from the quaint and romantic existence often portrayed in conventional picture books. With extraordinary color photographs and an authoritative text, Old Order Amish captures not only the familiar beauty and charm of Amish life but also its richness and complexity.
Photographer Lucian Niemeyer earned the trust and friendship of Amish families by helping to harvest crops on their farms in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County, site of one of the oldest Amish settlements in North America. After "many back-breaking days" in the fields, he gained acceptance in a community that draws sharp lines of separation from the outside world - and has, by tradition, shunned photography. With the encouragement of his Amish friends who welcomed the chance to correct inaccurate accounts of Amish ways, Niemeyer began to assemble this honest and sensitive photographic record. He worked without filters or darkroom manipulations, using only natural light. The results are unprecedented - photographs of families, community gathering, even the seldom seen interiors of Amish homes and schools. These unique images capture the deliberate simplicity and the natural beauty that characterize Amish life in Lancaster County.
In the accompanying text, Donald Kraybill - author of the highly acclaimed Riddle of Amish Culture - tells the often surprising story of today's Old Order Amish. His introduction provides a sweeping overview of Amish life in North America and explains how a traditional people have managed not merely to survive but to flourish in the midst of modern life. In thirty-five vignettes throughout the book, Kraybill explains Amish views on issues ranging from "Childbirth" and "Women Entrepreneurs" to "The Riddles of Farm Machinery," "Sowing Wild Oats," and "The Politics of Separation." His concluding essay examines why modern observers are so drawn to the Amish and their traditional values.
Old Order Amish details the rigors of hard work, the strength of family and community, the discipline of the religious Ordnung, and the ingenious Amish compromises with modernity. Here at last is an authentic portrait of the Amish - in striking photographs and honest accounts of their daily concerns and enduring traditions.
Get the book
Similar books
-
A Peculiar People: Iowa's Old Order Amish
By Elmer Schwieder, Dorothy SchwiederDuring that time span, four Old Order Mennonite divisions came into being in Indiana and Ohio; Ontario; Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; and Rockingham County, Virginia. These four groups all recognized common religious convictions and ...
-
Train Up a Child: Old Order Amish and Mennonite Schools
By Karen Johnson-WeinerTrain Up a Child explores how private schools in Old Order Amish communities reflect and perpetuate church-community values and identity.
-
Tradition and Transition: Amish Mennonites and Old Order Amish, 1800-1900
By Paton YoderPaton Yoder fills this gap by providing a carefully researched history of this era which forged the identity and character of the Amish church in ways that have reached far into the 20th century.
-
The Old Order Amish in Plain Words and Pictures
By T. J. RedcayThe Old Order Amish in Plain Words and Pictures
-
Introduction to Old Order and Conservative Mennonite Groups: People's Place Book No. 12
By Stephen ScottThe main group of Old Order Mennonites in Virginia has experienced steady growth since its beginnings in 1901, despite schisms and losses to more modern groups. ... Two groups of horse-and-buggy Old Order Mennonites meet on alternate.
-
On the Backroad to Heaven: Old Order Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren
By Donald B. Kraybill, Carl Desportes Bowman, Carl F. BowmanThis first comparative study sketches the differences as well as the common threads that bind these groups together.
-
An Amish Patchwork: Indiana's Old Orders in the Modern World
By Steven M. Nolt, Thomas J. MeyersIndiana's Old Orders in the Modern World Thomas J. Meyers, Steven M. Nolt. 2. Surveys of the Anabaptist movement include J. Denny Weaver , Becoming Anabaptist : The Origin and Significance of Sixteenthcentury Anabaptism ( Scottdale ...
-
Old Order Mennonites: Rituals, Beliefs, and Community
By Daniel B. LeeLee focuses on the Weaverland Conference of Old Order Mennonites, a group formed in 1893 and now consisting of over 5,000 members.
-
Horse-and-buggy Mennonites: Hoofbeats of Humility in a Postmodern World
By Donald B. Kraybill, James P. HurdExamining how the Wengers have cautiously and incrementally adapted to the changes swirling around them, this book offers an invaluable case study of a traditional group caught in the throes of a postmodern world."--Jacket.
-
Continuity and Change Among the Old Order Amish of Illinois
By Judith A. NagataContinuity and Change Among the Old Order Amish of Illinois