Intimate view of life in the Amish world with more than 150 letters and journal entries, poems, stories, and riddles.

This encyclopedia for Amish genealogists is certainly the most definitive, comprehensive, and scholarly work on Amish genealogy that has ever been attempted. It is easy to understand why it required years of meticulous record-keeping to cover so many families (144 different surnames up to 1850). Covers all known Amish in the first settlements in America and shows their lineage for several generations. (955pp. index. hardcover. Pequea Bruderschaft Library, revised edition 2007.)

Drawing on more than twenty years of fieldwork and collaborative research, The Amish: A Concise Introduction is a compact but richly detailed portrait of Amish life. In fewer than 150 pages, readers will come away with a clear understanding of the complexities of these simple people.

The Amish, one of America’s most intriguingly private, unique, and often misunderstood religious communities, have survived for three hundred years! How has that happened? While much has been written on the Amish, little has been revealed about their history. This book brings together in one volume a thorough history of the Amish people. From their beginnings in Europe through their settlement in North America, the Amish have struggled to maintain their beliefs and traditions in often hostile settings. Now updated, the book gives an in-depth look at how the modern Amish church continues to grow and change. It covers recent developments in new Amish settlements, the community’s conflict and negotiation with government, the Nickel Mines school shooting, and the media’s constant fascination with this religious people, from reality TV shows to romance novels. Authoritative, thorough, and interestingly written, A History of the Amish presents the deep and rich heritage of the Amish people with dozens of illustrations and updated statistics. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

When Ben and Barbara Girod married in 1973, they had no idea their new life together would be one of shared burdens and blessings, lovely dreams and bitter disappointments. Both products of a strict and conservative Amish upbringing, they sought to know Jesus, and they wanted more than the form and tradition of their Amish upbringing. In An Amish Journey to Forgiveness, author Ben Girod tells his remarkable and unusual story of Amish life, reflecting his painstaking social and spiritual journey over many decades. His responsibilities as a bishop and church leader were manifold as he dealt with the predominant and inherent traditions of the Old Order Amish church. A divine encounter with God brought peace and joy to their lives, but this was soon followed by misunderstanding and rejection by family, church members, and leaders, ultimately ending in excommunication from their respective district. Devastated, confused, and unable to understand why this was happening, they turned to the Lord in search of meaning and purpose. An Amish Journey to Forgiveness shares their story as they began to understand that God was allowing such persecution and suffering to draw them closer to Him. It shows how God used Girod to bring about an awareness of the need for healing and reconciliation throughout the body.

The history of the migrations of many Amish families in this book precedes the information in Amish and Amish Mennonite Genealogies (#2). Many of the same families are featured, but their ancestors are included for several generations before their arrival in America. The author gathered the data from the U.S. census records; civil records in Switzerland, France, and Germany; and cemetery records in Europe and U.S. He also accessed published lists of Anabaptists, ship lists, lists of people exiled to other countries, etc. Some family names include Beachy, Beiler, Brenneman, Berkey, Detweiler, Erb, Esch, Eyer, Fisher, Gerber, Gnage, Guth, Hershberger, Hertzler, Holly, Hostetler, Kurtz, Lehman, Livengood, Mast, Miller, Nafziger, Rickenbach, Rupp, Schmucker, Sieber, Speicher, Stutzman, Troyer, Tschantz, and Zook. (352pp. illus. index. Masthof Press, 2002.)

Examining 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.

Now back in print with a new essay, this classic of Iowa history focuses on the Old Order Amish Mennonites, the state’s most distinctive religious minority. Sociologist Elmer Schwieder and historian Dorothy Schwieder began their research with the largest group of Old Order Amish in the state, the community near Kalona in Johnson and Washington counties, in April 1970; they extended their studies and friendships in later years to other Old Order settlements as well as the slightly less conservative Beachy Amish. A Peculiar People explores the origin and growth of the Old Order Amish in Iowa, their religious practices, economic organization, family life, the formation of new communities, and the vital issue of education. Included also are appendixes giving the 1967 “Act Relating to Compulsory School Attendance and Educational Standards”; a sample “Church Organization Financial Agreement,” demonstrating the group’s unusual but advantageous mutual financial system; and the 1632 Dortrecht Confession of Faith, whose eighteen articles cover all the basic religious tenets of the Old Order Amish. Thomas Morain’s new essay describes external and internal issues for the Iowa Amish from the 1970s to today. The growth of utopian Amish communities across the nation, changes in occupation (although The Amish Directory still lists buggy shop operators, wheelwrights, and one lone horse dentist), the current state of education and health care, and the conscious balance between modern and traditional ways are reflected in an essay that describes how the Old Order dedication to Gelassenheit—the yielding of self to the interests of the larger community—has served its members well into the twenty-first century.

Thousands of people can speak Pennsylvania German, so why can't you? This book will introduce you to this fascinating language and give you the tools to start learning it. The CD that accompanies the book has Amish children reciting the lesson conversations. Enjoy the language of the Amish!

Aimed at anyone who is interested in the Amish experience, The Lives of Amish Women will help readers understand better the costs and benefits of being an Amish woman in a modern world and will challenge the stereotypes, myths, and imaginative fictions about Amish women that have shaped how they are viewed by mainstream society.