A. Martha Denlinger explains the beliefs and practices of both the Amish and Mennonites in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She answers many of the questions that visitors to Amish country often ask.

Contains primary source material.

More than 8.5 million people visit Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, every year to experience the culture of the oldest Amish community in the world. This primer to understanding Amish life, by the leading scholar of the people and their culture, includes captivating color photography and insight on recent media events.

From barn raising to haymaking and buggies kicking up snow, photographer and lifetime resident Don Shenk captures the uniqueness of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in more than 100 extraordinary photographs and four seasons. Lancaster County is home to the world's largest population of Amish, a Pennsylvania German religious sect that holds modernity at bay. Evocative photographs of work and play, spring's preparations and fall's harvests, reveal the character of a people who lead simple lives in tune with the changing seasons. In the midst of this idyllic countryside are Lancaster City, an artistic hub of nearly 60,000; Lititz, voted the coolest small town in the country; and many other charming towns. This realistic portrait of an iconic county will delight both long-term residents and the hundreds of thousands of visitors who pass through each year.

Bestselling author Mindy Starns Clark and coauthor Leslie Gould offer readers The Amish Nanny, Book 2 in the Women of Lancaster County series, which tells the stories of young Plain women as they explore their roots, connect with family, and discover true love. Amish-raised Ada Rupp knows it’s time to make a commitment to the faith and join the church, especially if she wants a future with the handsome Amish widower Will Gundy. But when she has the chance to travel to Switzerland as the caregiver of a young child, she leaps at the opportunity. Anxious to learn more about her forebears, Ada enlists the help of a young Mennonite scholar named Daniel, but even as she develops feelings for him, she cannot get Will from her mind—or her heart. At a crossroads, Ada must decide what she is willing to give up from the past in order to embrace her future.

Bestselling authors Mindy Starns Clark and Leslie Gould provide an unexpected surprise in The Amish Seamstress, Book 4 in the Women of Lancaster County series, which tells the stories of young Amish women as they explore their roots, connect with family, and discover true love. Izzy Mueller is an exceptional listener and gifted caregiver. She’s also a talented seamstress. As the young woman sits with her elderly patients, she quietly sews as they share their stories. She’s content with her life until circumstances reconnect her with someone she once loved. Zed Bayer, a Mennonite, is not what her family is hoping for in a spouse, and his creative interest in filmmaking is definitely at odds with her Amish upbringing. As Izzy is swept up again in Zed and renews her friendship with his sister, Ella, she begins to ask questions about her own life—her creative longings and historical interests, her relationships and desire for romance, and most importantly, her faith. What is the path God has for her? Can she learn from the past of both her family’s and Zed’s—or must she forge a completely different future of her own?

Drawing on more than twenty years of fieldwork and collaborative research, The Amish: A Concise Introduction is a compact but richly detailed portrait of Amish life. In fewer than 150 pages, readers will come away with a clear understanding of the complexities of these simple people.