This book examines the Amish understanding of forgiveness and explores how and why the Amish responded to the killing at Nickel Mines with grace. It also asks if Amish practices parallel or diverge from other religious and secular notions of forgiveness, and addresses the matter of why forgiveness became news. "All the religions teach it," mused an observer, "but no one does it like the Amish." Regardless of the cultural seedbed that nourished this story, the surprising act of Amish forgiveness begs for a deeper exploration. How could the Amish do this? What did this act mean to them? And how might their witness prove useful to the rest of us?