| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.3

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Plain Women: Gender and Ritual in the Old Order River Brethren. By Margaret C. Reynolds. Ed. by Simon J. Bronner. (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001. xii, 192 pp. $29.95, ISBN 0-271-02138-1.)

Only a handful of studies on women of Anabaptist traditions (Amish, Mennonite, and Brethren) exists. Many treatments of plain groups, such as the Old Order Amish, disregard gender and associated theory, preferring instead to concentrate on limited descriptions of marriage, motherhood, and housework. Although plain groups and their historians may enjoy being "behind the times," this particular adherence to patriarchal tradition remains both a frustration and an opportunity for scholars of women. Margaret C. Reynolds's ethnographic examination of contemporary Old Order River Brethren women starts to fill the gender void. 1

In many ways, Reynolds's work represents a landmark contribution. The topic, Old Order River Brethren women, is singular in studies of plain groups. In addition, unlike the preponderance of scholars who write about Amish and Mennonites, Reynolds was not an "insider." She did not claim an ethnic or religious heritage that would have made it relatively easy to access the communities she wished to examine. In Plain Women, she details her approach to those traditional communities, and her descriptions should serve as a guide to "outsiders" who may be intimidated or rebuffed during initial scholarly forays. . . .

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