The Old Order

Perhaps no person in history has dominated his or her own era as much as Napoleon. Despite his small physical stature, the shadow of Napoleon is cast like a colossus, compelling all who would look at that epoch to chart their course by reference to him. For this reason, most historical accounts of the Napoleonic era-and there are many-tell the same Napoleon-dominated story over and over again, or focus narrowly on special aspects of it. Frederick Kagan, distinguished historian and military policy expert, has tapped hitherto unused archival materials from Austria, Prussia, France, and Russia, to present the history of these years from the balanced perspective of all of the major players of Europe. In The End of the Old Order readers encounter the rulers, ministers, citizens, and subjects of Europe in all of their political and military activity-from the desk of the prime minister to the pen of the ambassador, from the map of the general to the rifle of the soldier. With clear and lively prose, Kagan guides the reader deftly through the intriguing and complex web of international politics and war. The End of the Old Order is the first volume in a new and comprehensive four-volume study of Napoleon and Europe. Each volume in the series will surprise readers with a dramatically different tapestry of early nineteenth-century personalities and events and will revise fundamentally our ages-old understanding of the wars that created modern Europe.

Here at last is an authentic portrait of the Amish, in striking photographs and honest accounts of their daily concerns and enduring traditions. Photographer Lucian Niemeyer earned the trust and friendship of Amish families by helping to harvest crops on their farms in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County, site of one of the oldest Amish settlements in North America. After "many backbreaking days" in the fields, he gained acceptance in a community that draws sharp lines of separation from the outside world--and has, by tradition, shunned photography. With the encouragement of his Amish friends who welcomed the chance to correct inaccurate accounts of Amish ways, Niemeyer began to assemble this honest and sensitive photographic record. He worked without filters or darkroom manipulations, using only natural light. The results are unprecedented--photographs of families, community gatherings, even the seldom seen interiors of Amish homes and schools. These unique images capture the deliberate simplicity and the natural beauty that characterize Amish life in Lancaster County. In the accompanying text, Donald Kraybill--author of the highly acclaimed Riddle of Amish Culture--tells the often surprising story of today's Old Order Amish. His introduction provides a sweeping overview of Amish life in North America and explains how a traditional people have managed not merely to survive but to flourish in the midst of modern life. In thirty-five "vignettes" throughout the book, Kraybill explains Amish views on issues ranging from "Childbirth" and "Women Entrepreneurs" to "The Riddles of Farm Machinery," "Sowing Wild Oats," and "The Politics of Separation." His concluding essay examines why modern observers are so drawn to the Amish and their traditional values.

This book tells a story which until now has not been available in such an interesting and comprehensive form. What holds these people together? Why are they growing in number? Where do they live? The Old Order Mennonites are less well known than the Amish, but are similar in many beliefs and practices. Some Old Order Mennonites drive horses and buggies. Others use cars for transportation. Conservative Mennonite groups vary a great deal, but in general espouse strong faith and family life and believe that how they live should distinguish them from the larger society around them. The author details courtship and wedding practices, methods of worship, dress, transportation, and vocation. Never before has there been such an inside account of these people and their lives. The author spent years conferring and interviewing members of the various groups, trying to portray their history and their story in a fair and accurate manner. An enjoyable, educational, inspiring book.

Lee focuses on the Weaverland Conference of Old Order Mennonites, a group formed in 1893 and now consisting of over 5,000 members. A large concentration of Weaverland Mennonites live in upstate New York near Seneca Falls, and Lee focuses his easily readable sociological study on that community. Individual chapters deal with the worship, rituals, rules, and discipline of the group, and with a number of recent defections to a more mainstream Mennonite Church located in the same area. Lee argues that Weaverland Mennonites are held together by their practices alone, rather than by a common underlying set of beliefs. --Choice Magazine

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.

This first comparative study sketches the differences as well as the common threads that bind these groups together.

"This ground-breaking book draws on the collections of the Royal Photographic Society at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford, as well as other collections to provide a unique account of Emerson's position in the history of photography. John Taylor's essays discuss Emerson's radical approach to photography, his historical and social context, his relationship to his contemporaries, as well as to debates and to technical innovations. He examines in depth several of Emerson's iconic images, and introduces an unrecorded, newly discovered albumen print (Tidal Creek and Old Warehouses south of Southwold, Suffolk)."--Rabat de la jaquette.