20 Most Asked Questions about the Amish and Mennonites

20 Most Asked Questions about the Amish and Mennonites is a slim book of less than 100 pages. The 20 questions are frankly answered with only the most basic information, only a few pages really, but this was not meant to be a in-dept study. The questions, such as Why do they dress that way? and What are their weddings like? seem like something both adults and children may find interesting. I would suggest this book for anybody who wants to take a peek at their societies but does not really wish to spend too much on a huge hardcover book written by a scholar. Some of the photos are old, having been first published in 1979 and only being reprinted in 1995. But the information itself is sound and many of the facts have been updated. I, frankly, find the reviews in which many people seem upset that the book is not in-dept amazing. A glance at it could tell you this is a Rest Stop Book. While in Pennsylvania I found this book was at every Rest Stop, every book store, gift shop, and every place you might stop to fill up on gas, food and guide books. Right next to the maps and trashy romance novels. If you want more please remember that this is the FIRST in a series of books, The People's Place Book series, and that other books deal with their homes, schools, buggies, recipes and so on. I suggest getting it for a start.

I would think most people buying this book are interested in conservative Amish and Mennonite groups, not the liberal/mainstream Mennonites. However, this book seems to make a point of explaining the liberal/mainstream views on issues without necessarily saying it is their stance and is contrary to conservative Mennonite/Amish views. Of course, this may be because the authors are mainstream Mennonite and feel just as much "Mennonite" as the ones in buggies. While I won't dabble with that topic in this review, I'm not so much opposed to them identifying mainstream Mennonite views so much as them not clearly identifying them as such and as a contrast. A bit of history of the conservative vs. mainstream movements during the 20th century would have gone a long ways, even if just a couple paragraphs, to explain why there are pictures on one page of a Beachy Amish congregation with segregated seating a plain dress, and then a woman with a short skirt smoking a cigarette on the other. "You mean, they're both Amish/Mennonite groups? How is that?" a reader may ask. But, the book does cover some basic questions readers may have about conservative Amish and Mennonites. Perhaps the less publicized book by Stephen Scott, Introduction to Old Order and Conservative Mennonite Groups (People's Place Book 12), by the same publisher would be a good introduction to conservative Mennonite groups. Scott is with a plain church and is a researcher at Elizabethtown College. Anything by Donald Kraybill is usually a good place to start with the Old Order Amish, but he is a sociologist not an Amish theologian, so you miss something there, though he does detail the whys of what they do. And you won't find much of anything on rumsprunga in this book. That's because it's an overpublicized media entertainment stunt that is far from portraying universal practice. There are many Amish groups that do not practice rumsprunga, and many more that have a moderate form of it, as in meeting up with the youth to sing hymns. The media's practice is like taking a run-down inner city school and portraying it like it represents all US schools.

I found this book to be a quite readable overview of the Amish and Mennonite, although out of necessity it has to be quite general in order to be such a slim volume. My only complaint it that some of the "questions" are not answered satisfactoraly, namely that about the problems that the Amish currently have to contend with. Also, some of the photos (all in the book are black and white) are fairly dark, something which could easily have been avoided.

This book is the first in the People's Place Booklet series on the Amish and other Old Order Anabaptists. This particular book goes into 20 top questions on the Amish and Mennonites, ranging from "What is the difference between the Amish and the Mennonites?" to "What, in fact, holds them together?" Along the way, the reader is treated to many black-and-white pictures, and a lot of information on the Amish and the Old Order Mennonites.Now, it must be said that this book focuses primarily on the Amish and Old Order Mennonites, and only occasionally talks about other groups, using them for comparisons rather than as subjects for discussion. But, that said, it is a goldmine of information on the Old Order Anabaptists, telling the reader who they are, where they came from, and what they believe. I found this to be a highly informative book, and highly recommend it to you.If you are interested in the Amish and other Old Order groups, then I cannot recommend this book to you enough. Buy it!

This is a very good book, and a good first book. If you are interested in the Old Order Mennonites and the Amish, this is a good first book to get. It does not cover the "Conservative Mennonite Movement" which includes many Mennonites that would not be classified as "Old Order," but the book is good anyway.