Osiah Horst grew up in an Old Order Mennonite family in Canada. Osiah’s father Isaac wrote a column for a local newspaper which eventually grew into the book A Separate People: An Insider’s View of Old Order Mennonite Customs and Traditions, a witty and incisive look at Old Order Mennonite society. Isaac penned 2 dozen books and many columns, before passing away in 2008. Osiah…
Over the past decade, Amish fiction–and in particular the romance novel–has boomed in popularity. Valerie Weaver-Zercher joins us today to discuss the genre, including the history of the Amish romance (not as new as you might think), who reads–and writes–Amish romances, and what Amish think about them. Valerie is a writer and editor whose work has been published in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The…
Today we’ve got 6 winners of Ira Wagler’s Growing Up Amish. If you missed the original interview, in which Ira discusses Amish life, family relationships and how he ended up in Lancaster County, you can read it here: Growing Up Amish interview. Growing Up Amish winners I’ve tallied up all additional Facebook and blog entries. If you commented more than once in the comments section…
Today, an interview with Ira Wagler on his new memoir, Growing Up Amish. Ira was born in the Aylmer, Ontario Amish community and grew up in Bloomfield, Iowa. During his youth and young adulthood he spent time on a Nebraska cattle ranch, Canadian wheat fields, and in Amish communities across the country. Ira struggled with life as an Amish person before finally leaving for good…
About four years back, Geauga County, Ohio native John Gingerich undertook to translate a text very important to the history of the Amish and other Anabaptists. History of the Bernese Anabaptists was written by Ernst Müller and published in 1895. Up until now it has never been available in English. In today’s interview, John explains how the translation came about while offering a fascinating look…
Commenting on a post last week, Donna Godfrey recommended reading books by Donald Kraybill. I’d second that. The Riddle of Amish Culture was one of the first I read and I think essential to understanding the Amish. The very first book I read on the Amish was Amish Society by John Hostetler, another good one, first published in 1963 and going through a number of…
The Connection is one of numerous new Amish periodicals Amish readers have enjoyed a variety of new publications over the past few years. One of my favorites is called The Connection. The Connection is published out of Topeka, Indiana, and features a variety of columns and articles written by Amish from around the country (as well as a few non-Amish). Two things that makes this…
Last Friday Elin left a comment on the post “Do we romanticize the Amish?“: “I have read some of these books and enjoyed them but I have realized that the Amishness of the characters is not more than polish. They are often just stereotypical ‘good Christian’ wearing Amish clothes. They are the same characters as in the Christian inspired fairytales I had as a child…
The Martyrs Mirror is revered by Amish and other Anabaptists. It’s a 1,000+ page book recounting the stories of Christian martyrs. In addition to Biblical-era martyrs, it includes tales of the many early Anabaptists persecuted in Europe. The Martyrs Mirror is in the news because a very old (1748) German-language edition is up for sale at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society auction (I’ve linked to…
Mary-Ann Kirkby was raised on a Hutterite colony in Manitoba. When Mary-Ann was 9, her family–parents, herself, and six siblings–left the colony for the world. I Am Hutterite is Mary-Ann’s memoir of life at Fairholme Colony, and her adjustment to living “outside the ark”. The Hutterites Hutterites are spiritual cousins of the Amish. The two groups share roots in the European Anabaptist movement. The Amish,…