Much has been written about the Amish in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, but little of that comes from the Amish themselves. Author Brad Igou seeks to change that with his compilation, Amish: In their own words. The book is compiled from the first 25 years of Family Life Magazine. Igou says his inspiration to write this book was born out of an experience living with an Amish family.

“I'd read a lot about the Amish, but I found a publication they had called Family Life, which was written by Amish people all across America, gave me a lot of insight into what was really on the minds of Amish people, what they were thinking. their problems, their differing opinions, and that's not something I found in most academic books.”

Through the compilation, Igou wanted to clear up some misconceptions about the Amish.

“We often tend to look at the Amish maybe partly because they dress the same as a kind of cookie cutter people. It's an expression we sometimes use. And this kind of way of humanizing the Amish shows that they have some of the same frustrations and concerns that the rest of us. Whether it's our young people, whether it's the influence of technology. We even address issues like abuse and suicide.”

Igou says through his research, he learned about some of the struggles the Amish face.

“I think some of the important things were to read about struggles that they have, whether it's abuse or marriage problems. You know, the Amish don't live in utopia. They have struggles and problems, just like the rest of us do. I found articles interesting where the Amish had adopted children, which was something that I wasn't real familiar with. writings about non -resistance, about the struggles of taking care of your parents, which the Amish feel is a responsibility they have. And also there were a couple things about what we call seekers, people who are interested maybe in becoming Amish and what the challenges of that may be and again it's to see this difference of opinion across the many states in the United States and Canada where the Amish live, that they don't always agree with each other either.”

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