The Gentle People: An Inside View of Amish Life

by Joe Wittmer

Book Overview

The book covers such topics as the Amish family system, child rearing, their plan of education, and courtship, marriage and death, along with other aspects of the Old Order Amish. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0971540411
• ISBN13: 9780971540415
• Release Date: July 2006
• Publisher: Black Buggy Restaurant & General Store
• Length: 198 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Amish beliefs and lifestyle

An informative book that gives a true picture of the Amish, their beliefs and how they live their lives. I thought I was well informed about the Amish as a quilter, reader of The Budget (their newspaper) and visits to Amish areas. I realized there was so much I didn't know. The writer presents the fact in an easy to understand and very readable manner. The book presents stories and reports by Amish adults and children (names left out) which makes the reader even more aware of the thoughts, beliefs and the way they live their lives. After reading this book I have an understanding about and a deep appreciation for The Gentle People.

The answer -- technology-savvy monastics

This is a concise, sympathetic and useful description of the Old Order Amish by a man who himself grew up as one. I'd imagined there were perhaps 5000 Amish in the US tucked away in some remote corner. No, there are over 20 times that, and growing rapidly. The book caused me to think about what the Amish have to offer the culture at large? Our culture would be well served by greater civilizational values, such as a culture of attentiveness to virtue, less personal tolerance for ugliness in all its forms (advertisement, professional welfarism, addiction,...). All of these the Amish exhibit in spades. But what price is to be paid for it? Some of them, I would not to have visited upon my family: 1) the view that women are inferior to men and that they should therefore do what men require without question (I can't imagine that this does not on occasion translate into sexual humiliation), 2) the discouragement of education, innovation and curiosity, 3) radical rejection of non-Amish - my concept of loving your brother involves interacting with him. The beauty of the culture is sustained only by paradox. If they did not isolate themselves, they would disappear. The greatest virtue as they see it is humility, and yet in isolating themselves from the world are they not implicitly degrading it? The Amish as a group have achieved something heroic in maintaining this way of life amidst the most fiercely materialistic of cultures, but paradoxically communal greatness is accomplished only by shutting down individual greatness. The imposition of virtue among the Amish falls under the purview of the state. Our Founders took the opposite and radical view that virtue that is not voluntary is no virtue, that the individual has a direct line to God through which he can be relied upon to seek virtue. The fact is that social stability has traditionally involved subjugating women by keeping them ignorant, and the divorce rate and crime rate skyrocketed in the wake of WWII when women were increasingly emancipated. This fear of the anarchy of the emancipated woman probably underlies our breach with the Muslim world. How do we address this issue? The state will end up stepping in where individuals fail. The technological revolution has condensed into a laptop many of the things which once belonged in a luxurious life - a sizeable library, intimate contact with exotic places, musical instruments, an artist's studio, a stock broker, a theater. The luxurious life comes increasingly to resemble the monastic life. Perhaps what is called for is a new sect of well educated, technology savvy hermetics who dress modestly, invest green, eat healthy food and tear down the billboards?

A good "first book" to read about the Amish

Though I've read four or five other books about the Amish I wish this had been the first one. Wittmer states openly that it will focus on the "positive" without delving into "negatives", and it does. But he does so without sounding like some Madison Avenue promoter or some Pollyanna trying to hype the topic. That is a good thing because much of the "negative" about the Amish is quite subjective and belongs in much different formats. The careful, open-minded reader will pick up on a wealth of valuable, fairly-presented insight into the Amish psyche and Amish ways. That, in turn, will provide an accurate foundation upon which the information and opinions expressed in other books can be settled against. "The Gentle People" is a gentle, interesting, highly informative read - it's style clearly showing the Gentility of the author's Amish upbringing yet also displaying the very credible Objectivity one would expect from a "secular" scholar. Perhaps most importantly - you will enjoy "The Gentle People" no matter what level you read it at.

The Gentle People: An Inside View of Amish Life

I enjoyed reading "The Gentle People: An Inside View of Amish Life". I recommend this book for those who are either doing a research paper about the Amish or is interesting in the Amish life or becoming Amish. This book makes me want to live with an Amish family so I can find out if the Amish life is for me.

Amish Wisdom

This book was packed full of Amish informaton about day to day life and an insight into the Amish way of living. I am continually amazed at their self-discipline and consistency in everything they do.