Using a descriptive personal narrative that marks ethnographic research, this book looks at literacy education in the Amish culture and considers the implications that this perspective reveals for mainstream education. Divided into 12 chapters, the book chronicles the life of an Amish family, the Fishers, focusing specifically on the attitudes toward literacy which are reflected in their relationship with the Old Order school and the Amish community. The first chapter, "The Beginnings," traces the early history of the author's relationship with the Fishers and the start of this study. Through anecdotes and personal observations, the next three chapters--"The Family at Home"; "The Family and Their Communities"; and "The Family and the School"--describe the various aspects of Amish life contributing to their literacy. Other chapters include "The Teachers' Community"; "Literacy Defined"; "Literacy and Social Continuity"; "Literacy and Meaning"; and "The Old Order as Model and Object Lesson." The book shows how literacy is viewed by the Amish as a cultural practice, not a decontextualized, universal set of skills and abilities automatically transferable across contexts. (Three pages of footnotes and 128 references are appended.) (MM)