The Gift to Be Simple: Life in the Amish Country

Few photographers can boast of acceptance by and access to a remote Amish community, but Bill Coleman has had the good fortune to spend the past 25 years capturing its daily events in beautiful full-color images. From breadmaking to haymaking to community barn raisings, he takes readers on a visual journey through a Pennsylvanian valley largely untouched by tourists and the trappings of modern existence. Whether it's a buggy traversing a winter farmscape, a woman quilting, or a group of children at play, Coleman captures with a perceptive eye the one unique and telling gesture that reveals the character of an individual and a community. The images gathered here--authentic in their subject matter and utterly simple in their presentation--celebrate the beauty and grace of a time-honored way of life.