Among the Amish: Drawings and Writings [Hardcover]

Keith Bowen (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1996

The farms and backroads' of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, are home to the world's oldest surviving and most densely populated Amish community. This is a society that turns its eye to God by turning away from cars, electricity, and modern technology. "Among The Amish" is a personal journal of four seasons spent living and working within this insular and very private community. With a fresh eye and an open mind, Welsh writer and artist Keith Bowen shows us the Amish at work, at prayer, and at play, relating personal experiences and anecdotes that reveal a culture as rich in contradictions as it is in tradition. This is not an "off the road" photography book, but a sensitive and revealing portrait by a gifted artist. Keith Bowen is a Welsh artist whose work has been exhibited in England's Royal Academy and in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

More gentle matters are covered by Keith Bowen with skill and grace in Among the Amish. He weaves vignettes drawn from his time spent among the Amish of Pennsylvania's Lancaster County, complementing his reports with his own marvelously evocative illustrations, many in full color.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 130 pages
• Publisher: Running Pr (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561387479
• ISBN-13: 978-1561387472
• Product Dimensions: 13.3 x 10.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,626,101 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely, "insider's" look at this unique culture, March 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Among the Amish (Hardcover)

This book is a loving look at the Pennsylvania Amish culture, and it really captures that world, with simple words and luminous illustrations. Instead of being kitschy or tacky like many feeble attempts at representing the Amish, it's very esthetically pleasing--a gorgeous coffee-table book, at an unbelievable price, and very engrossing to read. You really enter another world when you open it. Americans tend to idealize the Amish, with their old-world values: They live on beautiful farms, raise organic food, and seem to thrive without tv, cars, and other modern conveniences. I think of this book as sort of "soft-core" anthropology, because while the illustrations are beautiful and museum-quality, the Amish aren't idealized. You realize how hard they work, and what their limitations are. It's clear that Bowen actually spent a lot of time "among" them, observing their life respectfully but giving a very clear picture of it at the same time.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Among The Amish, March 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Among the Amish (Hardcover)

The pastel paintings in this book are incredibely beautiful.Any pastel painter would absolutly love this.The work portrays the artist's experience among the Amish with the"artist's eye"giving a sensitive and intimate view of day to day life and even more-some great art!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bowen really does take us Among the Amish..., July 23, 2009

By 

Cathy Johnson "artist/writer/naturalist" (Clay County, Missouri) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Among the Amish (Hardcover)

This is a gloriously beautiful book by Welsh artist Keith Bowen, who returned time after time to sketch and paint the Amish who became his friends. It's a lovely and enlightening book...as worth reading the text as it is poring over the beautiful illustrations. The latter, executed on the spot with ink and pastels, the sketches are an education in and of themselves...