The Amish Struggle with Modernity / Edition 1

by Donald B. Kraybill, Marc A. Olshan

Overview

Throughout their history, the Amish communities of North America have tried to remain separate from the currents of progress that swirl in the larger society. The authors and others argue that although the nation’s nearly 140,000 Amish continue to resist the influence of worldly institutions, the communities have nonetheless acquiesced to modernity in significant ways. Such change has not been easy and The Amish Struggle with Modernity examines on a national scale dilemmas that arise when a people devoted to plain living face the complexities of modern life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874516845
Publisher:	University Press of New England
Publication date:	09/01/1994
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	316
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

DONALD B. KRAYBILL is Professor of Sociology at Elizabethtown College, Director of the Young Center for the Study of Anabaptist and Pietist Groups, and author of The Amish and the State (1993), Old Order Amish (1993), and The Riddle of Amish Culture (1989). MARC A. OLSON is Professor of Sociology at Alfred University and author of numerous articles on the Old Order Amish.

Editorial Reviews

This is certainly the best academic introduction to contemporary Amish Culture yet published. But it is also more than that—modernity comes under as much scrutiny as do the Amish. Rejecting all nostalgic approaches...the editors argue for a hardheaded appraisal of the Amish’s ongoing ‘warfare’ against modernity—a warfare that is similar to the less intense resistances numerous other groups have also raised against the modern world.”—Choice

From the Publisher