Newsroom

Writing about another culture is never easy. Writing about sexuality and another culture? That takes a bold pen. Serpent in the Garden was not an easy book to write for that reason. In the end, though, those who have read it agree. It delivers a perspective...

The Lives of Amish Women explores how religion, tradition, and social practice come together to shape what it means to be a woman in Amish society. In writing this book, I wanted to understand better how the religiously defined roles of Amish women have...

Winter-weary reporters scurry on Groundhog Day, February 2, to answer the pressing question of whether spring will arrive early. Most cameras focus on a prognosticating groundhog emerging from its burrow in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, but they can also point...

One of the things that continually fascinates me about the Amish is the diversity within this group that can, at first glance, seem entirely uniform. Today there are more than 300,000 Amish living in more than 500 communities across 31 U.S. states and three...

We’re excited about the books we’ll be publishing this spring—and we're pleased to start off the new year with a series of posts that highlight our forthcoming titles. Be sure to check out the online edition of JHUP’s entire Spring 2016 catalog, and remember...

Guest post by D. Rose Elder The media typically portray Amish characters as either disapproving, humorless, and colorless adults rigidly humming a solemn hymn to keep worldly thoughts at bay or conflicted, cocky, out-of-control rumspringa adolescents listening...

On the night of September 6, 2011, terror called at the Amish home of the Millers. Answering a late-night knock from what appeared to be an Amish neighbor, Mrs. Miller opened the door to her five estranged adult sons, a daughter, and their spouses. It wasn’t a...

Amish women have long been connoisseurs of fabric, skilled at assessing the differences in weight, hand, color, and texture. The Ordnung—or guidelines that govern church districts at the local level—has long limited Amish families’ fabric choices for clothing...

Later this month PBS will air a new American Experience documentary entitled The Amish. This two-hour film gives viewers an unprecedented and intimate portrait of contemporary Amish faith and life. JHU Press author and Amish scholar Donald B. Kraybill served...