Customer Reviews

Amish Society

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The author is a professor emeritus from Temple University and grew up in an Old-Order Amish family. So in addition to academic credentials, the author has lived the life he describes so well in this book.

While this is not a travelogue for those wishing a tour of Amish Country, it would be a very good thing to read before you go to Lancaster, PA or any of the other Amish-settled areas in the US and Canada. Dr. Hostetler describes attitudes to "the English World", the religious and daily life, and how the Amish merge with their secular neighbors.

The book also describes a bit of the struggle the Amish faced in the 60's when they sought permission to have their own schools and end formal educatiion for their children at grade 8. While he says little about it, Hostetler's own life must have been affected by this attitude to what is required in education; he left the community to become a university professor, and subsequently lived with the Hutterites, another religious society in Canada and Europe.

This is an enjoyable and realistic book with no sentimentality or gloss. If you want to know more about the Amish, this is definitely the book to read.

I purchased the book Amish Society at Lapp's farm in Lancaster County. A book that even the Amish feel is good enough to sell themselves -- worked for me. I didn't read it until I got home from Lancaster Co., PA but it certainly explained a lot of things to me like why I saw cars in the yards of some of the Amish homes, why I saw Amish teenage boys smoking cigarettes, and how Amish sects differ.

As a grand-daughter of a related sect of plain people, The Hutterities, it was interesting to see how the Amish were similar to the Hutterites and how they differ. In a way it seemed like voyeurism to discover what the private lives of these very private people are like.

This is highly recommended anyone visiting the Amish or wanting ot learn more about them.

This is a superb, comprehensive book covering most facets of interest in Amish life. Concentrating on the Old Order Amish, it also provides history and perspective on most of the major Amish schisms, touches on the Mennonites by way of their relationships to the Amish, and gives a good overview of Anabaptist history to boot.

The text is very readable and organized by topic. A first time reader would do well to read cover-to-cover, but it can be browsed by chapter once the major terminology and concepts have been learned.

Hostetler grew up Amish. The book is a sociological study, written sympathetically. It would be a slight distortion to say it was written from the Amish point of view, but it does succeed in conveying that point of view. It does so accurately with sufficient examples and documentation to be conclusive.

Not a coffee table book, not a picture book, this is a readable reference work that you will use again. Quoted and used by many others writing about the Amish, the author is a highly respected authority on the subject.

Clearly one of the leading authorities on the Amish, Hostetler's book is a well-researched and well-written look at a group of people struggling to maintain their traditional ways in our modern society. This is an excellent introduction to the Amish.

Growing up near some scattered Amish church districts in Northwestern Pennsylvania and Western New York, I have always been interested in learning more about the Amish going way back to my childhood. Hostetler's book is my first attempt at this and I managed to pick a very good starting point.

I disagree with some reviewers about this being a good book to read before a visit to Amish country--its too in-depth and scholarly, I believe, for an average traveler with perhaps only a passing interest in the culture.

For someone else, like myself, who wants to learn much more, this book is excellent. Mine was a fourth edition (1993) and the book, with all its revisions, seems just a tad dated at times but this does not detract from the effectiveness of the discussion. Further, it has heightened my interest to learn more, and I will not pass an Amish buggy or household (a monthly occurance) without applying what I learned in this book!

I have many books on the Amish, but this volume is the keystone of the collection. Nothing will advance your understanding of the Amish more than reading this book - nothing. Written by a college professor born into an Old-Order Amish community (the most conservative), the author doesn't just describe the Amish and how they live, but explains why they live as they do and how they think and make decisions about modern life and technology. Along the way he destroys the notion that the Amish are rooted in the past. In fact, they are firmly in the here and now - but deliberately disconnected from the non-Amish world. They use power, motors, machinery, electronics and computers, modern transportation, and more, but in ways that ensure separation.

Amish Society gives perspective on how the Amish developed from their Anabaptist roots and where they fit in the modern Anabaptist spectrum. He describes how individuals and families move from one "level" to another and why. The fine distinctions among Amish communities are fascinating. The author gives an example, using Mifflin County, PA, showing 13 levels of Amish and Anabaptist "committment" (for lack of a better word). Starting at the center with the Old Order Amish, it proceeds to Old School, Byler Church, Peachey Amish, New Amish, Beachy Amish, Beth-El Mennonite, Holdeman Mennonite, Allensville Mennonite, Locust Grove Mennonite, Bretheren in Christ, Maple Grove Mennonite, and finally Protestant. All are instantly distinguishable to an Amish person by things as subtle as the width of a hat brim.

The most unfamiliar content for anyone not familiar with Amish life will be on religious ceremony and practice. Topics such as meetings, hymn singing (absolutely unique), sermons, choosing clergy, weddings, funeral practices, and so on are described in detail you won't find anywhere else.

On the personal end, the author describes the kinds of things that an Amish person thinks about, worries about, gives comfort or threatens, and how they view the outside world. In fact, this book is as much a look at the Amish from within as it is an examination of them from without.

Again, the best single volume on the Amish by a long shot. Very highly recommended.

This book is so informative, but at some points it is slow moving. The good thing about the book is that the chapters are divided so you can skip chapters you don't think you would be interested in. It is a great book to buy if you are interested or wanting to learn more about the amish community. It covers everything from funerals to marriage. A great read!

This was the most informative book on the Amish lifestyle that I have found. The author opens up the life of the amish to his readers. It is easy to understand. He takes you through the history, culture and beliefs. I have a deeper respect for the amish and understanding of their customs since purchasing this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like a look into a different way of life. This book opened my eyes and my heart to respecting the amish lifestyle and their privacy.

After reading Brad Igou's "The Amish: In Their Own Words" I then came to this book by Hostettler - and am glad I did. This book "fills in" the portrait of the Amish by providing a very clear, readable, though factual history of the Amish "progression", if you will. With the Amish existence being much more fragmented than many people think as they lump them all under the term "Amish", this book really brings about an enlightened understanding of the range of the sects and their relation to each other and "the outside World" over the course of their development. It also offers the reader a very gracious, very real portrayal of the Amish that, thankfully, dispels many of the traditional misconceptions about these kind and earnest people.

I have studied Amish culture and mores for some time out of both interest, admiration, and other motivations. And nowhere have I found a better resource than this book. That the author was himself raised Amish only lends to the credible nature of this book. But more importantly is the concise and thorough manner in which this book presents its truths and dispells rumors and myths. It served to take many of many of the half truths that I had known of the amish and complete them as no other resource has yet done. I heartily recommend this book. And it was a rather easy read, not bogged down by language. I finished it in a few days.