One of our readers recently came across some issues of the Amish publication Young Companion, dating to the early 1970s, at a local thrift shop. I’m calling this “retro”, but as a look at the contents shows, most of the subject matter would probably be just as appropriate today. A little background first. Young Companion is a publication with an interesting history. It is one of…
Chances are you’ve read a book or two to try to better understand the Amish. In today’s post, Richard Stevick shares his experiences with the people who write those books, starting with John Hostetler, through some of today’s authors. — Growing up in a working class community and in a family from which nobody had ever gone to college, I never imagined that I would write a book,…
Loren Beachy has delivered a second batch of answers to your questions, so we’ll get right into them. Today’s questions include queries about Loren’s favorite writers, how he manages eight grades at once, and how many single Amish ladies he is currently fending off. You asked some good ones. With these and his previous answers, Loren got to over 30 of your questions, so I think he did alright….
The book you see here just came in the mail. It’s called Chasing the Amish Dream: My Life as a Young Amish Bachelor, and its author is Loren Beachy. You might know Loren already from his Goshen News column “The Plain Side” or other writings. More about Loren: Loren Beachy is an Old Order Amish auctioneer and elementary schoolteacher. Born in central Ohio, Beachy became a Hoosier at…
On a recent post reader Jim S commented: “Would love to read a more in-depth treatment of the Amish.” Jim Cates and Rich Stevick replied with some good suggestions. I’d like to chime in as well. The past few months, I’ve been building a huge guide to my favorite non-fiction books on the Amish (also linked at “Good Books” up there on the right in the main menu). On the list you’ll find 27…
If you missed it, Serving the Amish author James Cates answered your questions in the comments section of our previous post. I’ll share a couple of them here (plus three of my own at the end of this post). First, from Loretta: Amish often have large families and children are considered a blessing from the Lord. What I haven’t understood is why it is hush-hush…
Three weeks ago the beard-cutting hate crimes convictions were overturned by a federal appeals court in Ohio. Following part 1 of his look at the case, today Donald Kraybill shares some analysis of the case reversals, including why they happened, why they matter for future cases and what might happen next. Maybe not surprisingly for a legal argument, it turns out the reversal hinged on the interpretation of just…
It’s been over 18 months since Sam Mullet was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the beard-cutting attacks carried out on Amish in Ohio in late 2011. Others in Mullet’s group, including those who actually did the cutting, got sentences ranging from one to seven years. Donald Kraybill’s new book Renegade Amish: Beard Cutting, Hate Crimes, and the Trial of the Bergholz…
MacGyver used to be one of my favorite television programs. If you don’t know the show, Angus MacGyver was the secret agent-science whiz famous for using his quick wits to escape precarious situations. Each episode featured MacGyver working his wizardry to get out of yet another jam, using only his inventive powers and whatever resources were at hand. As an operative for the fictional Phoenix Foundation, MacGyver was constantly thwarting bad…
Following our look at a $9,681 Amish buggy, we’ve got an excerpt from Richard Stevick’s Growing Up Amish: The Rumspringa Years which explores the topic of Amish youth and their horsepowered vehicles. In this selection taken from Chapter Seven (“Singings: The First Step to Independence”), we learn about the many ways the Youngie adorn their buggies (including one surprising modification I had never heard of before, see…