Summary
Title: Born Amish, by Ruth Irene Garrett
Author: Deborah Morse-Kahn
Publisher: Turner Publishing
ISBN: 1563119633
Pro:
• Balanced and sympathetic, revealing the pros and cons of living an Amish life
• Lots of history and little details that most people would never notice
Con:
• None
Description:
• Personal history of what it's like to grow up in an Amish community
• Balanced, sympathetic perspective rather than critical
• Goes well with her earlier book, Crossing Over: One Woman's Escape from Amish Life
Book Review
One of the more prolific authors on the Amish is Ruth Irene Garrett, a woman who left her Amish life, family, and community because she fell in love with an “Englisher,” a non-Amish outsider who worked by driving the Amish in his van (they won’t own automobiles, but they don’t mind using them). She told the story of her falling in love and running away in Crossing Over: One Woman's Escape from Amish Life, a book that is understandably critical of the Amish way of life.
More recently, she wrote Born Amish, a more detailed description of what it means to live and grow up in an Amish community. Many readers of her earlier book wanted to know more about what her life was like before leaving the community and Garrett delivers. She describes what goes on behind child rearing, farming, marriage, sexuality, adolescence, recreation, clothing choices, and all the other facets of Amish life which remain generally hidden to outsiders.
Among the more interesting facets of her book is that Garrett takes the time to explain that the Amish aren’t a monolithic religious community in America — there are tremendous differences from one Amish settlement to another. Some are stricter and some are more liberal; moreover, a settlement can change over time and move from less strict to more strict or vice-versa.
Born Amish, by Ruth I. Garrett and Deborah Morse-Kahn
Some Amish families may move several times over the years, trying to find a settlement which best matches their expectations and comfort level. Included in the book's many photographs is a visual lesson on which types of Amish wear which types of bonnets. I’ll bet you didn’t know how much a bonnet or color choice can tell you about an Amish community, but it’s true.
Born Amish is a nicely balanced book. It doesn’t hesitate to point out problems, conflicts, and contradictions in Amish society. At the same time, she doesn’t downplay the sense of satisfaction which so many Amish experience because of the lifestyle. Small, close-knit communites can be incredibly supportive, but also incredibly repressive. For every ideal people have about mythical small towns, there is something equally awful about them. Ruth Irene Garrett’s book explores how this can be the case in the example of the Amish and anyone interested in American religion generally or religious communities specifically would benefit from reading it.
