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Revised edition of this classic work brings the story of the Amish into the 21st century. Since its publication in 1989, The Riddle of Amish Culture has become recognized as a classic work on one of America's most distinctive religious communities. But many changes have occurred within Amish society over the past decade, from westward migrations and a greater familiarity with technology to the dramatic shift away from farming into small business which is transforming Amish culture. For this revised edition, Donald B. Kraybill has taken these recent changes into account, incorporating new demographic research and new interviews he has conducted among the Amish. In addition, he includes a new chapter describing Amish recreation and social gatherings, and he applies the concept of "social capital" to his sensitive and penetrating interpretation of how the Amish have preserved their social networks and the solidarity of their community.
The Amish have always struggled with the modern world. This title explores diversity and evolving identities within this distinctive American ethnic community, and its transformation and geographic expansion. It provides an authoritative and sensitive understanding of Amish society.
This first comparative study sketches the differences as well as the common threads that bind these groups together.
Despite the great interest in &"plain&" groups in recent years, comparatively little has been written about women and the particular role they play in preserving traditional religious and cultural values in the modern world. In Plain Women, Margaret C. Reynolds portrays the women of the Old Order River Brethren, a significant branch of the Brethren in Christ located mainly in Pennsylvania. The members of this conservative offshoot of the Brethren are often confused with the Amish because of their plain attire, but, unlike the Amish, they have made some notable concessions to the modern world&—including the use of automobiles, computers, and home appliances. Noting these accommodations to m...
Presenting a challenge to popular stereotypes, this book is an intimate exploration of the religiously defined roles of Amish women and how these roles have changed over time. Continuity and change, tradition and dynamism shape the lives of Amish women and make their experiences both distinctive and diverse. On the one hand, a principled commitment to living Old Order lives, purposely out of step with the cultural mainstream, has provided Amish women with a good deal of constancy. Even in relatively more progressive Amish communities, women still engage in activities common to their counterparts in earlier times: gardening, homemaking, and childrearing. On the other hand, these persistent th...
A rare collection of 90 antique Amish quilts for children is show-cased in this brilliantly colorful volume. Few antique Amish crib quilts remain because they were put to hard use in large families which typically averaged seven children. But Sara Miller of Kalona, Iowa, herself a member of the Old Order Amish, began building a collection of lovely antique crib quilts which she learned about as the proprietor of a fabric and quilt shop. Thus began an unusual odyssey -- Sara, who once disparaged the quilting tradition of her heritage, thinking it dull and drab, began to see its graphic beauty when outsiders became intent on owning Amish quilts. The richly colorful quilts featured here come fr...
J.L. Anderson seeks to change the belief that the Midwest lacks the kind of geographic coherence, historical issues, and cultural touchstones that have informed regional identity in the American South, West, and Northeast. The goal of this illuminating volume is to demonstrate uniqueness in a region that has always been amorphous and is increasingly so. Midwesterners are a dynamic people who shaped the physical and social landscapes of the great midsection of the nation, and they are presented as such in this volume that offers a general yet informed overview of the region after World War II. The contributors?most of whom are Midwesterners by birth or residence?seek to better understand a pa...
This text examines the most 'inconvenient truth' of all - and the most important: our moral responsibility for climate change.