Fixing Tradition: Joseph W. Yoder, Amish American (C. Henry Smith Series, V. 4) OUT OF PRINT [Paperback]

Julia Kasdorf (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 2003 | ISBN-10: 1931038066 | ISBN-13: 978-1931038065

This book is OUT OF PRINT from the publisher.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Kasdorf (The Body and the Book: Writing from a Mennonite Life) here examines the life and writings of J.W. Yoder (1872-1956), a controversial and complex Amish author and educator. Yoder's popular Rosanna of the Amish (1949) is still considered one of the most authentic accounts of Amish life, but Yoder himself was often at odds with his own people and spent much of his later life and writings trying unsuccessfully to liberalize them. Kasdorf, who also comes from Amish roots, has provided a fascinating analysis of Yoder's life and work. Her book makes use of material acquired through many personal interviews with those who remember Yoder as well as his own extensive correspondence. Her analysis of his various books in light of this new research is penetrating and thought-provoking and will be of interest both as a window into the Amish community and as an insight into one man's struggle to balance tradition with the right to intellectual liberty. Recommended for academic and public libraries.
C. Robert Nixon, M.L.S., Lafayette, IN
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Pandora Pr USA (January 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931038066
• ISBN-13: 978-1931038065
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,751,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Champion and Critic of the Amish, Their Scribe and Their Prophet, September 28, 2009

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Charles Hoffacker (Washington, DC, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fixing Tradition: Joseph W. Yoder, Amish American (C. Henry Smith Series, V. 4) OUT OF PRINT (Paperback)

This well-crafted biography is a significant contribution to the study of Amish Mennonite history and culture, yet it is more than that. Prize-winning poet Julia Kasdorf is so successful in presenting Joseph W. Yoder (1872-1956) as a real person in a credible narrative that I found Fixing Tradition hard to put down.

Kasdorf not only gives us Yoder as a real person, but makes a convincing case for why he merits the substantial study she has given him. Over many years he devoted considerable energy to the advancement of both higher education and popular singing among the Mennonites. Sometimes described as "the first successful Mennonite writer," he combated mainstream American misunderstanding of the Amish through his Rosanna of the Amish, which remains in print today. A controversial figure throughout much of his life, Yoder was a champion and a critic of the Amish, their scribe and their prophet. He was progressive, intriguing, enigmatic, and stubborn.

Kasdorf's portrayal of Yoder as a figure working to bridge Amish Mennonite society and mainstream American culture stimulates general questions about how high-commitment religious groups relate (and do not relate) to the dominant society around them. It also raises questions about the use and abuse of religious authority and the ways religious traditions speak to both their own adherents and outsiders.

Yoder's passionate opposition to the "prayer veil" worn by Mennonite women is an episode in early feminism, though the public voices in the controversy were those of men. It is also a vivid case study of how a particular practice may be connected to explosive questions of a religious tradition's self-understanding in an alien world.

Fixing Tradition opens windows on several notable social phenomena of a century ago, among them the pedagogy of singing in small communities, the widespread culture of bachelors, and "muscular Christianity" which under other names remains a vital factor in American religion today. Yoder's interests led him to stay connected with a wide variety of people and communities.

In this book's lovely epilogue, "Field Work and Folk Talk," Kasdorf recounts her research in the Big Valley region of Pennsylvania, an area that formed both her and Yoder. By approaching the people there with respect for their traditional emphasis on resemblance and repetition as ways of knowledge, she was able to enrich her understanding of someone who challenged tradition, who struggled to be both Amish and an American progressive.

Yoder's contemporary William Faulkner famously observed that "The past is never dead. It's not even past." Julia Kasdorf graciously suggests to the readers of Fixing Tradition that this is true for Joseph Yoder's people--and for all of us.