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The Amish: How They Survive

The Amish live far outside the cultural mainstream. During the last century, they grew from 5,000, inhabiting a handful of states, to 200,000 souls living in 25 states and one Canadian province.

Preferring community to technology, the Amish live their lives in close fellowship with each other. Within their religious communities, everyone agrees on what technologies to adopt, what clothes to wear, and what horse-powered transportation to drive.

A decade ago, approximately 90% of Amish earned their incomes from farming operations. Today, in some communities, less than 5% do so. Learn how the Amish have successfully responded to a tightening agricultural economy. See how their strict adherence to community values contributes to their doubling in size every 20 years.

This documentary takes you on an intimate journey into Ohio Amish life and culture. You will discover how rapid growth and economic pressures threaten their community. You will also meet people who, as a result of creative disengagement with the culture around them, thrive.
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The Amish: Back Roads to Heaven

This documentary examines the oldest Old Order Amish community, located in the area around Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This group has defined how we think about the Amish, with their gray buggies, dark-colored dresses, and trim farmsteads. This is one of the few communities allowing mules in addition to horses for draft power.
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The Amish: A People Of Preservation (1975)

In this colorful, award-winning PBS documentary, Mennonite historian John Ruth takes us sympathetically into the Amish mindset. An updated look at Amish origins, beliefs, farm life, childhood, school, worship, recreation, courtship, horse transportation, barn-raising, land pressures, and cottage industry.

The Amish continue to intrigue their technology-current neighbors by keeping alive ways and beliefs that many modern Americans regard as irretrievably lost to progress. In this colorful, award-winning documentary, newly revised and augmented, Mennonite historian John L. Ruth takes us sympathetically into the Amish mindset. Appreciative neighbors, a well-known physician, an artist, and respected scholar John A. Hostetler, author of Amish Society, provide insightful commentary on the survival of an alternative to the kind of world we have made. As the Amish increase exponentially in numbers, some migrate toward more open farmland. Those staying in centuries-old communities where the land is too crowded to farm have developed an amazing variety of cottage industries. But all changes are made very carefully, in order not to undermine the spiritual covenant and community.
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A must-watch – please listen to the end.
Why I Left the Amish