First Farm——> Ira Wagler

ByErik Wesner June 4, 2010July 14, 2011

We never actually got to the brown eggs, but did cover a lot of other ground during my interview with Ira Wagler yesterday.

That includes Ira’s takes on buggy speakers bigger than the driver, Ira’s experience leaving the Amish, and why the “all things Amish” wave may be cresting. Listen to the podcast here (link no longer available).

This was my first time hosting radio, and before the show I lobbied Ira, hard, to go easy on me. He reluctantly agreed. Lucky me.

And, I must add: my thanks to Suzanne for graciously letting me man the helm while she was gone! I found out it ain’t as easy as it looks (sounds?).

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Amish Books and Media

Watch “The Amish” Chapter 1 (Video)

ByErik Wesner December 8, 2017December 12, 2017

4 Comments

Speaking recently with someone wanting to film the Amish, I realized it’s been 5 years since the release of PBS’s excellent documentary “The Amish”. This is one of the films I most often recommend on the Amish, and it struck me that some of you readers might not be aware of it. After previewing the film in 2012, I wrote the following: Adding to the Amish commentary is that…

Amish Books and Media

Friday Amish Round-Up

ByErik Wesner March 23, 2012May 3, 2012

13 Comments

From time to time we like to do these roundups of news and other bits: Ben J. Raber’s Bookstore Ben J. Raber passed away about 2 weeks ago. He was the second owner of Raber’s Bookstore, taking over the store in 1967 from his father John A. Raber. Raber’s best-known publication is the annual Almanac (first advertised as Der Neue Amerikanische Kalender für das Jahr…

Amish Books and Media

Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites and Mennonites: 5-book giveaway and interview with Donald Kraybill

ByErik Wesner November 15, 2010May 11, 2021

95 Comments

Donald Kraybill just had a busy month. Most people would consider releasing one book an event, but in October Kraybill released two–The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World, co-authored with Steven Nolt and David Weaver-Zercher, and the Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites. Timing of the release was something of a coincidence; while The Amish Way was a more recent project,…

Amish Books and Media

3-book giveaway and Q-and-A with authors of The Amish

ByErik Wesner May 23, 2013October 1, 2014

208 Comments

Donald Kraybill, Karen Johnson-Weiner and Steven Nolt have written a new comprehensive book on the Amish, simply entitled The Amish. You probably recognize the authors’ names from numerous books including The Riddle of Amish Culture, New York Amish, A History of the Amish, and many more. Over 500 pages in length, this new collaboration covers the Amish from just about every angle, from history and religious practices…

Amish Books and Media | Amish Controversies

iPods, Amish abuse, and sketchy journalism

Byerik February 8, 2007June 15, 2018

The stories are heartbreaking. You feel for the victims. It’s hard to imagine what they’ve been through. But at the same time, a 20/20 piece on Amish abuse from a few years back points to the generalizations that many journalists rely on to tell their story. The 20/20 folks lean heavily on cliches and misconceptions–from the ominous opening music, to the overplayed stories they trot…

Amish Books and Media | Amish Culture

Hypochondriac diseases will prevail…

Byerik April 27, 2008January 8, 2011

7 Comments

I may have missed this before, but this is the first year I’ve seen the Calender printed in an English version as well as in the usual high German. The bulk of the 88-page pamphlet, produced by an Ohio Amish printer, is a more-or-less comprehensive listing of Old Order Amish church districts along with their respective ministers. The Calender/Almanac also contains a curious mixture of…