Hutterite Society

by John A. Hostetler

Overview

Written to mark the centennial of the Hutterites' arrival in North America, John Hostetler's acclaimed study traces their history from the founding of their society over four centuries ago to the early 1970s, and analyzes their social and cultural organization, the difficulties of communal living. and their strategies for survival.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801856396
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	06/23/1997
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	424
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

John A. Hostetler (1918–2001) is author of the best-selling Amish Society and the widely acclaimed Hutterite Society, both available from Johns Hopkins. Raised in the Amish faith, he was founding director of the Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and a former professor of anthropology and sociology at Temple University.

Read an Excerpt

"Of hundreds of recorded attempts to establish communal societies in North America, the Hutterites are the only group that has managed not only to survive but to expand and prosper. Yet the members work without the incentive of private gain, and privileged positions are few. There are no extremely poor or wealthy persons among them, and individuals never worry about food, shelter, clothing or dependency in old age. Identity problems and alienation are virtually nonexistent. In their history, which spans more than four centuries, there has never been a single homicide. There are no high walls around the colony and no police force."—from Hutterite Society

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition
Preface
Introduction
Part I: Historical Development
Chapter 1. The Birth of Hutterite Society
Chapter 2. The Golden Period in Moravia
Chapter 3. The Decline and Fate of The Eastern European Communities
Chapter 4. Life in Russia
Chapter 5. Adaptation to the North American Environment
Part II: Contemporary Social and Cultural Organization
Chapter 6. World View and Language
Chapter 7. Colony Organization
Chapter 8. Subsistence and Economic Patterns
Chapter 9. Schooling and Preparation for Life
Chapter 10. Adult Life Patterns
Part III: The Problems and Techniques of Survival
Chapter 11. The Social Problems of Communal Living
Chapter 12. The Strategy of Hutterite Survival
Appendixes
Selected Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

A must reading for anyone doing serious study of the Hutterites . . . An excellent history of the Hutterites . . . [which] will serve for many years to come as a good benchmark for an analysis of change in the way of life of this extraordinary group.
—Mennonite Life

A fine study of the oldest Western communal society, originally Moravian, who live now on the American and Canadian plains.
—New York Times Book Review

An impressive picture of a people who share the general Anabaptist rejection of worldly thrills and pleasures, but who have a special distinction of their own—a strict devotion to communal living that has endured with little change for more than four centuries.
—Time

Hutterite Society, an even more impressive work than Hostetler's earlier Amish Society, is surely destined to become a minor classic widely read and acclaimed by scholars and the general public.
—Sociology

Essential to any study of Hutterites.
—American Historical Review

From the Publisher

Hutterite Society, an even more impressive work than Hostetler's earlier Amish Society, is surely destined to become a minor classic widely read and acclaimed by scholars and the general public.

Sociology

Essential to any study of Hutterites.

American Historical Review

A fine study of the oldest Western communal society, originally Moravian, who live now on the American and Canadian plains.

New York Times Book Review

A must reading for anyone doing serious study of the Hutterites . . . An excellent history of the Hutterites . . . [which] will serve for many years to come as a good benchmark for an analysis of change in the way of life of this extraordinary group.

Mennonite Life

An impressive picture of a people who share the general Anabaptist rejection of worldly thrills and pleasures, but who have a special distinction of their own—a strict devotion to communal living that has endured with little change for more than four centuries.

Time

"An impressive picture of a people who share the general Anabaptist rejection of worldly thrills and pleasures, but who have a special distinction of their own—a strict devotion to communal living that has endured with little change for more than four centuries."

Time