Amish Books and Media

Nic Stoltzfus (S. Nicholas Stoltzfus) is a 10th-generation descendant of Nicholas Stoltzfus, one of the best-known figures in Amish and Anabaptist history. Nic is also the author of a book released last year on his ancestor’s family: German Lutherans to Pennsylvania Amish: The Stoltzfus Family Story. The Stoltzfus surname is one that most who know the Amish are well-acquainted with, as it is the most…

Last week we informed you of a new free online resource called The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities. Here’s a summary of one of the articles you might find of interest – Mark Louden’s “Plain Talk about Health: Linguistics Aspects of Mediation between Amish and Mennonites and Health Care Professionals”, courtesy of editor Joe Donnermeyer. The inaugural issue of The Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities…

Earlier this week I let you know about the Journal of Plain Anabaptist Communities (JPAC), a new open-source scholarly publication. But what about publications produced by the Amish? While scholarly journals provide a different and valuable perspective, it’s also nice to read writings direct from Amish writers. And there is a wide and growing range of such periodicals. Some of these are pretty well-known, while…

We’ve got two winners today of Ira Wagler’s Broken Roads: Returning To My Amish Father. If you missed it, Ira discussed the book in our interview last week. This book follows up Ira’s first memoir Growing Up Amish. We also have the full prologue of Broken Roads to share with you today. Thanks to Ira and Hatchette Book Group for making that possible. Broken Roads…

Well, not wanted by me, but by someone who’s posted a job offer on freelancing site Upwork. This is just a quirky thing I came across in my Amish news feed today. I wondered some years ago if the appeal of Amish romance would continue. Going by anecdotal evidence at least, the genre appears to still be running strong. This kind of ad seems to…

Ira Wagler‘s best-selling 2011 memoir Growing Up Amish told the story of his life as a young man, and his eventual decision to leave the Amish behind. Broken Roads: Returning To My Amish Father is his just-released follow-up. It covers subsequent events in his life, and in particular, his relationship with his father, David L. Wagler. Among David’s accomplishments, he was co-founder of the Amish…

Brad Igou shared the story of his book Amish Voices: A Collection of Amish Writings with us last week. We also had an excerpt entitled “Free Rein.” Today we have several more excerpts, and the book giveaway winner. I focused on some of the shorter excerpts, but taken from different sections of the book, to give you a wider feel for it. Are the Children…

Free Rein One day in late fall, snow fell and caught me unprepared for winter. Hoping to save a little time, I took a different way home, one with which I was not too familiar, yet I anticipated no problem. Old Dobbin obligingly trotted on, but I was not far until I began to have doubts that this road was leading me home. By now…