Second Chances: the Life Story

Second Chances, the enjoyably thought-provoking autobiography of Enos Stutzman, is a delight to read. Richly informative, it sheds much light on the life-values, ethos, and beliefs of the Amish communities in Ohio during the 1940s and 1950s, and still later during the transition to the Beachy Amish position. I have been in contact with various Amish and Anabaptist individuals since 1964, and have read most of the popular and scholarly non-fiction books printed regarding this faith-community, in addition to regularly attending a Beachy Amish fellowship since 1993. All this has given me the fond illusion that I well understood the history and values of the Amish and Beachy constituencies.
Enos Stutzman’s book, filled as it is with deft personal detail and many human touches, illuminates the realities of day-to-day Amish life in those long-gone days in a manner no other book of my awareness approaches. All who wish to understand the inner workings of Amish culture in Ohio a generation or two ago, a culture that in spite of itself significantly contributed to the rise of the current Beachy Amish fellowships, are heartily invited to immerse themselves in the fascinating story of Second Chances.
(Back cover of book by Will Dreyer)