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An outsider among the Amish
Beacon Press
June 2007
On Sale: June 15, 2007
208 pages
ISBN: 0807010642
EAN: 9780807010648
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Joe Mackall has lived surrounded by the Swartzentruber Amish
community of Ashland County, Ohio, for over sixteen years.
The Swartzentrubers live without gas, electricity, or indoor
plumbing; without lights on their buggies or cushioned
chairs in their homes; and without rumspringa, the recently
popularized "running-aroung time" that some Amish sects
allow their sixteen-year-olds. Over the years, Mackall has
developed a steady relationship with the Shetler family
(Samuel and Mary, their nine children, and their extended
family). Plain Secrets tells the Shetlers' story over these
years, using their lives to paint a portrait of
Swartzentruber Amish life and mores. During this time,
Samuel's nephew rejects the Amish way of life; his bright
young daughter reaches the end of school for Amish children;
and Samuel faces difficulties in his new role as a church
leader. These and other stories from the life of the family
reveal the larger questions posed by the Amish way of life.
If the continued existence of the Amish in the midst of
modern society asks us to consider the appeal of
traditional, highly restrictive, and gendered religous
communities, it also asks how we romanticize or condemn
these communities-and why.
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