• Why will the Amish ride in cars but refuse to drive them? • How can their old-fashioned farms turn a profit while many modern farms go broke? • Do they ever change their customs? Who decides, and how? • If they'll use pay phones, why not have a phone in the house? • Why will they use electronic calculators but not computers?
The Amish are one of America's most intriguing and puzzling communities. To the outsider, their habits and customs abound with contradictions. But the most intriguing puzzle of all is the secret of their survival in the twentieth century. How have these "plain folk" not only kept the modern world at bay but actually grown from a meager band of 5,000 in 1900 to over 100,000 today? 
Donald Kraybill has lived and worked among the Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, home of America's oldest Amish community. Talking with the Amish on their farms, in their shops, and around their kitchen tables, he has learned how they have "struck a bargain" with modern times--a bargain that explains why many of the rules that seem quaint or silly actually have been essential to keeping Amish culture alive.
In The Riddle of Amish Culture Kraybill finds the Amish men and women eager to answer our questions. But they also have questions for us. Why, they ask, do we shut our aging parents out of our houses--and put them in institutions we call "homes?" Why do we move away from the towns and families we love in pursuit of jobs we hate? And why do we need weapons so powerful they could one day destroy us all--Amish and "English" alike? 
The Riddle of Amish Culture draws us into conversation across a cultural fence with a people as remote as the seventeenth century and as close to home as that blacktop road off the next Interstate exit. And what we learn about our Amish neighbors tells us much about ourselves. 
"Some have wall-to-wall carpeting, insulated wooly stuff all around the top, a big dashboard, glove compartment, speedometer, clock, stereo radio, buttons galore, and lights and reflectors all over the place... If they have the money, that's what they do, and that's pride."--an Amish leader, on the "hot- rod" carriages of some Amish teenagers

The Riddle of Amish Culture (Center Books in Anabaptist Studies)

Politics & Social Sciences

Kraybill, Professor Donald B.

Social Sciences

The Johns Hopkins University Press

Religion & Spirituality

Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits (Center Books in Anabaptist Studies)

"The Amish have been a people of the plow for more than three centuries. An agrarian tradition and a love for the land have shaped their distinctive faith and culture in many ways. The farm provided a crib for nurturing large families and stable marriages, a locus for work, and a haven from the vices of the larger world. This book tells the story of the Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who have rather rapidly abandoned their plows for the pursuit of profit." -- from the preface Amish culture has been rooted in the soil since its beginnings in 1693. But what happens when of the members of America's oldest Amish community enter non-farm work in one generation? How will hundreds of cottage industries and micro-enterprises reshape the heart of Amish life? Will traditional eighth- grade education still prove adequate? What about gender roles, child-rearing practices, leisure activities, and growing ties with outsiders? Amish Enterprise is the first book to discuss the dramatic changes that will affect Amish communities throughout North America. Based on interviews with more than 150 Amish entrepreneurs, the authors trace the rise and impact of micro-enterprises in Lancaster's Amish settlement over the past two decades. They document the proliferation of more than a thousand Amish-owned enterprises in the Lancaster area -- some 14 percent of them boasting annual sales above $500,000. Kraybill and Nolt explain why, at a time when the majority of new American business ventures fail, virtually all Amish businesses succeed. Amish Enterprise offers surprising insights into the cultural transformation of a plain people who are becoming increasingly entangled in the economic web of modern life.

History

Nolt, Professor Steven M.

Americas

"The Amish have been a people of the plow for more than three centuries. An agrarian tradition and a love for the land have shaped their distinctive faith and culture in many ways. The farm provided a crib for nurturing large families and stable marriages, a locus for work, and a haven from the vices of the larger world. This book tells the story of the Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who have rather rapidly abandoned their plows for the pursuit of profit." -- from the preface Amish culture has been rooted in the soil since its beginnings in 1693. But what happens when of the members of America's oldest Amish community enter non-farm work in one generation? How will hundreds of cottage industries and micro-enterprises reshape the heart of Amish life? Will traditional eighth- grade education still prove adequate? What about gender roles, child-rearing practices, leisure activities, and growing ties with outsiders? Amish Enterprise is the first book to discuss the dramatic changes that will affect Amish communities throughout North America. Based on interviews with more than 150 Amish entrepreneurs, the authors trace the rise and impact of micro-enterprises in Lancaster's Amish settlement over the past two decades. They document the proliferation of more than a thousand Amish-owned enterprises in the Lancaster area -- some 14 percent of them boasting annual sales above $500,000. Kraybill and Nolt explain why, at a time when the majority of new American business ventures fail, virtually all Amish businesses succeed. Amish Enterprise offers surprising insights into the cultural transformation of a plain people who are becoming increasingly entangled in the economic web of modern life.

Old Order Amish: Their Enduring Way of Life (Center Books in Anabaptist Studies)

Here at last is an authentic portrait of the Amish, in striking photographs and honest accounts of their daily concerns and enduring traditions. 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 backbreaking 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 gatherings, 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.

Niemeyer, Mr. Lucian

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Books by Kraybill, Professor Donald B.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kraybill, Professor Donald B.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Riddle of Amish Culture (Center Books in Anabaptist Studies)

The Riddle of Amish Culture (Center Books in Anabaptist Studies)

Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits (Center Books in Anabaptist Studies)

Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits (Center Books in Anabaptist Studies)

Old Order Amish: Their Enduring Way of Life (Center Books in Anabaptist Studies)