Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits

Amish culture has been rooted in the soil since its beginnings in 1693. But what happenswhen members of America's oldest Amish community enter non-farm work in one generation? How will hundreds of cottage industries and micro-enterprises reshape the heart of Amish life? Will traditional eighth grade education still prove adequate? What about gender roles, child-rearing practices, leisure activities, and growing ties with outsiders? Amish Enterprise was the first book to discuss these dramatic changes that are transforming Amish communities across North America. Based on interviews with more than 150 Amish entrepreneurs, the authors trace the rise and impact of businesses in Lancaster's Amish settlement in recent decades. In this new edition, the authors update demographic and technological changes, and also describe Amish enterprises outside of Pennsylvania in a new chapter. economy literature that only discusses cultural resources, not restraints. This theoretical contribution is valuable because religious beliefs handicap Amish entrepreneurs in many serious ways." Contemporary Sociology The move of Amish into small businesses was documented by Donald B. Kraybill in his recent book, Amish Enterprise . . . Some Amish 'shopmen' no longer need to work dawn-to-dusk, as they did when tending dairy herds requiring 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. milkings. In this male-dominated society, some men are not the dominant influence in this cultural change because 'twenty percent of the businesses are operated by women.'" Philadelphia Inquirer failure and some big successes. Some 15 percent had sales over $100,000, and 7 percent had sales over half a million dollars." Utne Reader Amish culture is being transformed . . . This is scholarship at its best." Choice, selected as an Outstanding Academic Book respect for the Amish people." Mennonite Quarterly Review While objective and independent in approach, Kraybill and Nolt display commendable respect for Amish principles and attitudes." Yearbook of the Society of German-American Studies involvements in business . . . This book has many of the virtues of the people it studies. It represents thorough work, clear organization and carefully measured judgments. The authors are good story tellers as well as social analysts. The book deserves the acclaim it has received." Mennonite Weekly Review with modernity." Professor Peter Ester, Director, Institute for Social Research Tilburg University, the Netherlands Author Bio: Donald B. Kraybill is Distinguished College Professor and Senior Fellow in the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College, Pennsylvania. Widely recognized for his work on Anabaptist groups, he has authored and edited many books, including The Riddle of Amish Culture and The Amish and the State, both available from Johns Hopkins. Steven M. Nolt is an associate professor of history at Goshen College, Indiana. He is the author of numerous articles and several books on Anabaptist and Pennsylvania German groups.

Booknews

The Amish people of Lancaster County, Pa., have shifted from farming to business ownership within a single generation, triggering a host of implications for the group--place of residence, education, technology, child-rearing practices, gender roles, community structure, and relations with the outside world. And it reflects a fundamental transformation of worldview toward the modern and the rationalized. This analysis concludes that Lancaster's Amish haven't completely ceded their cultural souls to the pursuit of profit; they have achieved their economic success within the moral bounds of their church and without the typical trappings of technology and education. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Donald B. Kraybill is Distinguished College Professor and Senior Fellow in the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College, Pennsylvania. Widely recognized for his work on Anabaptist groups, he has authored and edited many books, including The Riddle of Amish Culture and The Amish and the State, both available from Johns Hopkins. Steven M. Nolt is an associate professor of history at Goshen College, Indiana. He is the author of numerous articles and several books on Anabaptist and Pennsylvania German groups.