Renegade Amish: Beard Cutting, Hate Crimes, and the Trial of the Bergholz Barbers

Donald B. Kraybill is a Distinguished College Professor and senior fellow emeritus at Elizabethtown College's Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of more than a dozen books on Amish culture, including The Riddle of Amish Culture, The Amish, and Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy.

On the night of September 6, 2011, terror called at the Amish home of the Millers. Answering a late-night knock from what appeared to be an Amish neighbor, Mrs. Miller opened the door to her five estranged adult sons, a daughter, and their spouses. It wasn't a friendly visit. Within moments, the men, wearing headlamps, had pulled their frightened father out of bed, pinned him into a chair, and--ignoring his tearful protests--sheared his hair and beard, leaving him razor-burned and dripping with blood. The women then turned on Mrs. Miller, yanking her prayer cap from her head and shredding it before cutting off her waist-long hair. About twenty minutes later, the attackers fled into the darkness, taking their parents' hair as a trophy.

By shedding light on the ways in which the Bergholz group perverted 'Amishness,' Donald Kraybill-the leading scholar of Amish society-demonstrates his ability to sensitively analyze and explain Anabaptist culture to a broad audience. There are no other books that tackle this subject. As enthralling as true crime, Renegade Amish will also appeal to Anabaptist, religious, and legal studies scholars. -- Karen M. Johnson-Weiner, coauthor of The Amish In his deeply researched and vividly written account, Donald Kraybill not only chillingly reconstructs what happened during a series of Amish-on-Amish beard-cutting attacks that culminated in a precedent-setting federal criminal trial, he also tackles the how and why one group of Amish was transformed into a band of renegades. -- Dick Lehr, Author, Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil's Deal Donald Kraybill's book is a lively, beautifully written account of the beard-cutting attacks in the Amish community of eastern Ohio. With sensitivity and impeccable scholarship, Kraybill sheds light on why this happened and what lessons about religious freedom this strange case holds for the Amish-and for us all. -- Charles C. Haynes, Director, Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum Institute