This collection is the first scholarly treatment of the relationship
between the Amish and the media in contemporary American life. The
essays not only focus on the Amish as subjects in mainstream
media--news, movies, TV--but also view them as producers and consumers
of media themselves.
Of all the religious groups in contemporary America, few demonstrate as
many reservations toward the media as do the Old Order Amish. Yet these
attention-wary citizens have become a media phenomenon, featured in
films, novels, magazines, newspapers, and television--from Witness,
Amish in the City, and Devil's Playground to the intense news
coverage of the 2006 Nickel Mines School shooting. But the Old Order
Amish are more than media subjects. Despite their separatist tendencies,
they use their own media networks to sustain Amish culture. Chapters in
the collection examine the influence of Amish-produced newspapers and
books, along with the role of informal spokespeople in Old Order
communities.
With essays from experts in the fields of film and media studies,
poetry, American studies, anthropology, and history, this groundbreaking
study shows how the relationship between the Amish and the media
provides valuable insights into the perception of minority religion in
North American culture.