Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish
by Tom Shachtman
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
people interested in Amish
I read this book after watching the documentary film of the same topic and research- The Devil's Playground- this was additional information and had limited Amish youth's self analysis, which was interpreted by the author. The Amish youth who were the subject of the film made reappearances and others who were not had their stories incorporated into this work.
The style of writing is easy to read, with direct quotations of the teenagers, which are better heard than read, like, um, you know wh...more
The style of writing is easy to read, with direct quotations of the teenagers, which are better heard than read, like, um, you know wh...more
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Read in December, 2007
Like many people, I find the Amish quite fascinating. The idea that people would want to live without modern conveniences seems quaint, and I was interested to learn how they could retain young members. "Rumspringa" is the time in an Amish teenagers' life when s/he is permitted to go out and experience the outside world. The hope is that after reveling in temptation for a short while, they will realize the need to return to their communities and devote themselves to the Amish way of l...more
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Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone
I like people who are different, and I never knew much about the Amish way of life before. The author obviously does not share the Amish way of life, but he paints a respectful picture of a society that most of us will never see firsthand.
I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. I read some reviews in Booknotes and I was intrigued enough to pick it up. I'm glad I did. I learned a thing or two.
The author goes into a lot of descriptive detail about the Amish way of life a...more
I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. I read some reviews in Booknotes and I was intrigued enough to pick it up. I'm glad I did. I learned a thing or two.
The author goes into a lot of descriptive detail about the Amish way of life a...more
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Read in December, 2007
One of the chief characteristics of American life in the early twenty-first century is its number of second chances—several careers, multiple marriages, lots of moving of residences, and plenty of opportunities for starting over. Amish youth have few such options, and only one moment in which to make the most important decision—perhaps the only significant decision—of their lives, one that will then define their lives until the end of their days. For once they have agreed to reenter their ...more
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Read in July, 2008
Pennsylvania, my old stomping ground, is a quirky place. There are odd sayings like "I stoved my finger" instead of "I jammed my finger." "Red up your room" is to clean your room. I once had a waitress ask me, "Can I take your drinks awhile?" I'm not sure, but I think that she was asking for my drink order while I looked at the menu (??) But PA's most famous quirk has got to be the Amish. The Amish are fascinating to me for obvious reasons. I'm curi...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in February, 2008
When Amish youth are in their mid-teens, they are let loose from the regulations of the church, and are allowed to spend time driving, using electricity and drinking. This is called Rumspringa. The idea is that the kids will get an idea of what the rest of the world is like, then willfully come back to the church. Nine out of ten wind up joining the church, often after just a couple of years.
The documentary "The Devil's Playground" follows the lives of a few youth in Rumspringa, an...more
The documentary "The Devil's Playground" follows the lives of a few youth in Rumspringa, an...more
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The Amish are an Anabaptist sect, so members must make a decision to join rather than be baptized at birth. "Rumspringa" refers to a period in Amish adolescence when the teen must decide whether to join the church. This decision may include exploration of the "English" comunity (i.e., everyone else), including driving, substances, and sex. Contrary to the book's assertion that this is a coming of age rite, it seems more accurate to understand it as a developmental period--it ...more
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Read in April, 2008
This book reads like a documentary. The author bases it on 400 hours of interviews with Amish and formerly Amish. "Rumspringa" refers to the period of time when an Amish youth turns 16 when s/he is allowed to "run around" -- experimenting with life in the "English" world. This includes drugs, sex, drinking, buying cars, etc. After this period of experimentation, the adolescents then must make the choice (in their own time - some people take many years to decide)...more
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Rumspringa is time during the Amish youth's teenage years where he/she is allowed to explore the temptations (cars, drugs, TV's, etc) around them, in hopes that it will help them to make the major life decision of whether or not to join the Amish church and continue with the Amish way of life.
As someone who's knowledge of the Amish was for the most part from the movie "Witness" I found this book very insightful. The author does a good job of introducing the culture and religion o...more
As someone who's knowledge of the Amish was for the most part from the movie "Witness" I found this book very insightful. The author does a good job of introducing the culture and religion o...more
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Read in August, 2007
A book about Amish kids letting loose that's less interesting than it really should be. The Amish allow their teenagers to experience the outside world during a "rumspringa" period - driving cars, partying, etc. - so that they are able to make an informed choice about joining the church as adults (which the vast majority end up doing, although sometimes not until after a lot of drinking and drug use). The topic is interesting - how kids from a very sheltered community deal with going...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
Amish-likers
This book was somewhat interesting because of the mini-vignettes, but I still was able to put it down multiple times and move on to other things. Like I've said before, I really prefer books to suck me in and ones that make it hard for me to put them down.
The plight of the young Amish echoes the difficulties that all teenagers experience. The only difference is that after living a very sheltered existence, the Amish teenagers often go off the deep end in a world free of limits. Since outsid...more
The plight of the young Amish echoes the difficulties that all teenagers experience. The only difference is that after living a very sheltered existence, the Amish teenagers often go off the deep end in a world free of limits. Since outsid...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
all
"... a fascinating look at a little-known Amish coming-of-age ritual, the rumspringa - the period of "running around" that begins for Amish you at the age sixteen. ..Amish youth are allowed to live outside the bounds of their faith, experimenting with the larger world and its temptations: alcohol, premarital sex, phones, drugs, wild parties, etc."
Parents home that the children will then make a decision to ignore the outside "English" way of life and return to be b...more
Parents home that the children will then make a decision to ignore the outside "English" way of life and return to be b...more
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Read in December, 2006
recommends it for:
fans of the Amish?
I waited for weeks for this book to be returned to the library so I could pounce on it, and I was ultimately disappointed. This reads more like some sort of boring case study than a book about Amish teenagers running wild. There is some vague discussion of premarital Amish sex which can't be found in the related documentary "The Devil's Playground," but it seemingly doesn't involve any of the people discussed in the book. There are too many people to follow, and their stories are so...more
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Read in April, 2008
Good, but not great. Covered a lot of the same ground as the documentary "Devil's Playground" with a larger discussion of Amish life overall, which was done a bit more thoroughly in the excellent THE RIDDLE OF AMISH CULTURE by Donald Kraybill (and this author often cites to Kraybill). In fact, there was less focus on the things teenagers actually DO during Rumspringa, and I didn't get the sense that many of the book's interviewees really opened up to the author. Some of the intervie...more
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Read in January, 2008
Though not my usual fare, as a quick perusal of my books will reveal, this was a great look inside a little-understood sect of Christian living, just the kind of sociology text I can really enjoy. The book gets a little repetitive as it goes, primarily because the testimonials by members of the Amish faith really start to blend together and because all the major points are made in the first chapter. But I feel like I learned a good deal about the social organization of the group whose various fa...more
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Read in February, 2008
This was an interesting book about Amish and their way of life. Having so many family members in the Lancaster area and having spent some of my childhood in Indiana, I've always been interested in the Amish customs and beliefs. This opened my eyes to what life is really like for the Amish youth. I found it interesting to see how closely their beliefs are tied into the Mennonite beliefs I grew up with. It was a bit slow at times and read like a text book but I'm glad I read it. There are times wh...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
people interested in the amish
around page 166, i realized that i don't give a crap about the amish. i think i was hoping for a more nuanced look at the lives of the amish in rumspringa, some sort of beautiful search for meaning in contemplating leaving everything they've ever known. No, nothing like that. This is a poorly written, uninteresting look at a phenomenon that is interesting in and of itself. Again this is one of those books that I wish were written by someone else. Michael Lewis maybe.
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Read in July, 2007
Interesting enough. This is a book about how teenaged Amish are allowed to run around, and try things (dating, cars, drinking, etc) before settling down and joining the church. I am not personally surprised that Amish people, are gasp, human, as some are apt to be. However, I am finding the struggle between a traditional culture and the desire to be more modern interesting (seems like a theme running through a lot of my choices).
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Read in May, 2007
This is the first time I've ever said this; the movie is better than the book.
Thats not really true--the subject is fascinating, but the book gets very redundant. So, if your a little interested in the subject, or know nothing about Rumspringa, the movie does a great job of introducing the concept (Devil's Playground). If you want a further, more in depth sociological examination, take a look at the book.
Thats not really true--the subject is fascinating, but the book gets very redundant. So, if your a little interested in the subject, or know nothing about Rumspringa, the movie does a great job of introducing the concept (Devil's Playground). If you want a further, more in depth sociological examination, take a look at the book.
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Read in October, 2007
Took a brief sabbatical from this book about miday through because it appeared that the an nauseum accounts of Amish kids running amok were not as exciting as I had anticipated. Decided to put it in the dead zone book pile and pursue my own real-time Rumspringa. I give it one star for the idea of this book and it's dry insights. Cult or culture? umm, you decide. I didn't finish the book so I don't get to vote.
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