Donald B. Kraybill, Ph.D.

Distinguished College Professor and Senior Fellow,
Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies
Joint appt., Sociology and Religious Studies departments

The Young Center, Elizabethtown College
One Alpha Drive, Elizabethtown, PA 17022

Email: kraybilld@etown.edu      Fax: 717-361-1443
 


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Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits

Donald B. Kraybill and Steven M. Nolt

Center Books in Anabaptist Studies
Johns Hopkins University Press

second edition / 2004 / 304 pages / 47 illustrations

Amish culture has been rooted in the soil since its beginnings in 1693. But what happens when 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.