The Gift to be Simple: Life in the Amish Country [Hardcover]

Bill Coleman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2001

Few photographers can boast of acceptance by and access to a remote Amish community, but Bill Coleman has had the good fortune to spend the past 25 years capturing its daily events in beautiful full-color images. From breadmaking to haymaking to community barn raisings, he takes readers on a visual journey through a Pennsylvanian valley largely untouched by tourists and the trappings of modern existence. Whether it's a buggy traversing a winter farmscape, a woman quilting, or a group of children at play, Coleman captures with a perceptive eye the one unique and telling gesture that reveals the character of an individual and a community. The images gathered here--authentic in their subject matter and utterly simple in their presentation--celebrate the beauty and grace of a time-honored way of life.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Twenty-five years ago, professional photographer Coleman helped reset a wheel on an Amish farmer's buggy. In return, the farmer invited Coleman to visit--an unusual thing for anyone from the very self-contained Amish community to do. Coleman became a regular visitor and learned how to photograph inoffensively that particular Amish aggregation, which avoids the ways of the world more rigorously than do many others. Some results of his persistence constitute this lovely album, and they rank with George Tice's pictures in the classic Fields of Peace (rev. ed., 1998). Whereas Tice printed his work in sepia to lend the images the monumentality he found in Edwin S. Curtis' famous sepia photos of American Indians, Coleman conjures the same largeness of spirit with a palette full of the velvety hues of various cloudy skies and the earth tones of farmland. Because the community he worked with discourages portraiture of adults, Coleman only shows the faces of children. Their innocent beauty suggests that this kind of simplicity is a gift all children should share. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Bill Coleman a professional photographer who lives in State College, Pennsylvania

Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (May 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811831183
• ISBN-13: 978-0811831185
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,100,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful..., April 26, 2001

By 

"bookboarder" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gift to be Simple: Life in the Amish Country (Hardcover)

The photography in this collection is outstanding. It is, not only a glimpse into Amish life, but it is extremely beautiful artwork.

The photgrapher captures the simplicity of Amish life in well-executed images. The photographs cover all aspects of Amish life, without being overly intrusive.

If you have ever been fascinated with the Amish lifestyle, pick up this beautiful book.

While I understand the lack of description, [the editor/author did not want to draw away from the simplicity of the photographs--and the point of this book is simplicity], I think that something was missing in this respect.

If you are looking for the definitive book on Amish, I would have to tell you to pick up this book AND something with more written information. The combination would be a great asset.

I cannot, however, detract from the five stars that I have given this book, simply because of its beauty. It is wonderful.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rare photos of Amish children and adults but no text., February 19, 2005

By 

Hello Kitty Ellen (Appleton, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gift to be Simple: Life in the Amish Country (Hardcover)

It's not often that Amish children or adults are seen in photos because it is against their religion for adult members of the church to have photos taken which show their face (their interpretation of the Bible considers this vanity). It's a little questionable then that there are photos of a few Amish adult faces. The photographer mentions that when he first started taking these photos, he didn't know it was forbidden in the Amish religion. The Amish farm kids (not members of the church yet) got the OK from their parents to be in a few photos, according to the photographer. Some of the photos show the backs of children only, dressed in the simple Amish clothes and walking to school barefoot or working on the farm. Many of the photos are shot at quite a distance, with the photographer apparently standing on a public road in Amish country and snapping photos. There are many pictures of Amish barns and farmhouses. It's a nice book to flip through, but because there is no wording on the pages (beyond a quick intro in the front) it doesn't warrant a second and third look. My favorite Amish book is by Elizabeth Coblentz and includes full-page photos plus copies of her columns in an Amish newspaper about life on her family's farm.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Shared Gift, October 18, 2001

By 

BeachReader (Delaware) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gift to be Simple: Life in the Amish Country (Hardcover)

I have many books of photographs and this is the most beautiful one I have seen. It was a gift to me that Bill Coleman shared these photos!

He has managed to capture the spirit of the Amish - their simple life and their everyday lifestyle. You see their spirit shining through in these photos. The children are particularly beautiful and look so happy and innocent.

The photos of the landscape are equally wonderful. It was only on my third *reading* of this book that I realized what they were missing : electric poles and wires. These photos could have been taken 100 years ago, the landscape is so unspoiled!

I thank Bill Coleman for giving me this glimpse into the Amish world. Although I live not far from where he took these photos, they allowed me an inside look.