Visit to Amish Country takes you on a journey into the world of the "plain people." There are no portraits of the Amish themselves in the book because these modest people do not believe in having photographs made of themselves. Yet through lyrical, strikingly composed photographs of buggies, quilts, tools, clothing, and homes, Raymond Bial has evoked the spirit of their lives - from the tranquility of corn fields and pastures to the quiet interiors of barns, shops, and homes. In Visit to Amish Country you will not only find the material objects of the Amish, but experience the inner calm at the heart of Amish beliefs. Despite persistent stereotypes, the Amish are a congenial people who have found many ways to brighten their lives. More than 100 vivid color photographs show a life rich with color: deep purple and blue Amish dresses on the clothesline and bright red barns against the clear summer sky. As you turn the pages of this book, you will have a sense of wandering the backroads of Amish country, visiting shops offering handcrafted goods and briefly stopping at Amish farms. You will discover that the Amish are a thriving community. Cherishing their families and neighbors, they have wisely selected the best of the old and the new technology and, amid the turmoil of contemporary life, fashioned a pleasant, meaningful world for themselves.
Raymond Bial (pronounced Beal) is the author and photo-illustrator of more than one hundred critically-acclaimed books for children and adults, including Amish Home, Frontier Home, The Underground Railroad, Where Lincoln Walked, One-Room School, Ghost Towns of the American West, Tenement: Immigrant Life on the Lower East Side, Nauvoo: Mormon City on the Mississippi River, The Super Soybean, and many others. A skilled photographer, he works with ease in both color and in black and white. Working with both film cameras and digital equipment, he is best known for his versatility in portraiture, landscapes, and still lifes, and his sensitivity toward the people, places, and objects portrayed in his images.
The subjects of Raymond's books range from farm life to American social and cultural history. Appealing to young and old alike, his books are ideal choices for parents, grandparents, teachers, and librarians to share with children. His most recent photo-essays are Ellis Island: Coming to the Land of Liberty, and Nauvoo: Mormon City on the Mississippi River, published by Houghton-Mifflin, and The Super Soybean, published by Albert Whitman. He has also written three popular collections of mystery fiction for children: The Fresh Grave and Other Ghostly Stories, The Ghost of Honeymoon Creek, and most recently Shadow Island: A Tale of Lake Superior, published by Bluehorse Books. His books have received numerous awards from the American Library Association, National Council of Teachers of English, Children's Book Council, and many other organizations. He lives with his wife, Linda, and children, Sarah and Luke, in Urbana, Illinois. His daughter Anna, who illustrated two of Raymond's books, is a fashion designer in New York City.
