Throughout their history, the Amish communities of North America have tried to remain separate from the currents of progress that swirl in the larger society. The authors and others argue that although the nation’s nearly 140,000 Amish continue to resist the influence of worldly institutions, the communities have nonetheless acquiesced to modernity in significant ways. Such change has not been easy and The Amish Struggle with Modernity examines on a national scale dilemmas that arise when a people devoted to plain living face the complexities of modern life.

DONALD B. KRAYBILL is Professor of Sociology at Elizabethtown College, Director of the Young Center for the Study of Anabaptist and Pietist Groups, and author of The Amish and the State (1993), Old Order Amish (1993), and The Riddle of Amish Culture (1989). MARC A. OLSON is Professor of Sociology at Alfred University and author of numerous articles on the Old Order Amish.