cover image Amish Ways

Amish Ways

Ruth Hoover Seitz. RB Books, $24.95 (117pp) ISBN 978-1-879441-77-4

Eight informal essays and 150 handsome color photographs blend in this panorama of the Amish lifestyle by the married author-and-photographer team that produced Amish Country . Focusing mainly on Lancaster County, Pa., the major locus of the ``plain people'' settlement, which was established there in the 1720s, the photos pause briefly at other Amish and Mennonite communities in Ohio and Canada. The text provides a historical context as well as intimate glimpses of the daily life that promotes continuity of values and skills from generation to generation. Although a roseate view of the Amish virtues of caring for their own and resisting worldliness pervades, there is acknowledgment here also of the new winds, primarily commercial, that are bringing change, often puzzling, to the lives of contemporary Amish. This is a well-executed presentation. (June)