Now back in print with a new essay, this classic of Iowa history focuses
on the Old Order Amish Mennonites, the state.s most distinctive religious
minority. Sociologist Elmer Schwieder and historian Dorothy Schwieder began
their research with the largest group of Old Order Amish in the state, the
community near Kalona in Johnson and Washington counties, in April 1970;
they extended their studies and friendships in later years to other Old
Order settlements as well as the slightly less conservative Beachy Amish.

A Peculiar People explores the origin and growth of the Old Order Amish
in Iowa, their religious practices, economic organization, family life,
the formation of new communities, and the vital issue of education.
Included also are appendixes giving the 1967 .Act Relating to Compulsory
School Attendance and Educational Standards.; a sample .Church Organization
Financial Agreement,. demonstrating the group.s unusual but advantageous
mutual financial system; and the 1632 Dortrecht Confession of Faith, whose
eighteen articles cover all the basic religious tenets of the Old Order
Amish.

Thomas Morain.s new essay describes external and internal issues for
the Iowa Amish from the 1970s to today. The growth of utopian Amish
communities across the nation, changes in occupation (although The Amish
Directory still lists buggy shop operators, wheelwrights, and one lone
horse dentist), the current state of education and health care, and the
conscious balance between modern and traditional ways are reflected in
an essay that describes how the Old Order dedication to Gelassenheit.the
yielding of self to the interests of the larger community.has served its
members well into the twenty-first century.

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