Community of Memory

In this fascinating seriesof narratives, many voices of Jeff Gundy's Amish and Mennonite forebearstrace their paths and chronicle their lives. Women and men speak in thesepages, telling their stories and linking themselves to each other, thepast, and the present. Gundy demonstrates that who he is--who we all are--isshaped by a past peopled with those who worked, loved, dreamed, and died.By sharing his community of memory, he makes us desire to seek out ourown.Using family photos, records,recollections, and historical research, Gundy follows seven generationsthrough time and space: from Bavaria and Alsace to Ohio to Illinois inthe 1830s; from frontier dwellings with dirt floors to homes with refrigerators.He also follows them intellectually, from a strict to a broader interpretationof religious doctrine in the 1870s, which led to a schism within the alreadysmall Mennonite community; from a long-standing position on pacifism andconscientious objection to some questioning of this stance during WorldWar II.