KLEES, FREDRIC. The Pennsylvania Dutch. Pp. ix, 451. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1950. $5.00

• DOI: 10.1177/000271625127400182
• Author: Cornelius Weygandt
• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Date: 01 March 1951
• Subject Matter: Articles

250
The discussion of the hospital service
Amish and Dunkards, who, Mr. Klees
plans, the prepaid medical care plans, and
thinks, have been unduly emphasized.
the impact of commercial insurance makes
Mr. Klees finds three cultures among us:
interesting reading. The text is quite easy
a culture of the Lutherans and the Re-
to read and careful in its approach, and
formed, a &dquo;church culture&dquo;; a culture of
it maintains an objective viewpoint.
the Moravians; and a culture of &dquo;the plain
A study and occasional review of this
people,&dquo; Mennonites, Amish and Dunkards.
book are to be encouraged.
There is always present in his writing a
P. F. LUCCHESI, M.D., M.P.H.
realization of our background in southeast-
Philadelphia General Hospital
ern Pennsylvania, that we are basically
country folk, the first farmer in &dquo;The
KLEES, FREDRIC. The Pennsylvania Dutch.
States.&dquo;
There are good stories galore
Pp. ix, 451. New York: The Macmillan
scattered through the pages, but it is the
Company, 1950. $5.00.
solid factual information he has garnered
There is more about the Pennsylvania
that makes his book valuable. Who will
Dutch in The Pennsylvania Dutch by
may find in it all that is known of us, from
Fredric Klees (The Macmillan Company,
hexerei to our distinction in medicine and
New York, 1950) than in any book pub-
music, but he will have to hunt it out with-
lished about us. It is an omnium gatherum . out the help of an index. That omission
of nearly everything ever put in print about
materially lessens the value of The Penn-
the Dutch country, its European back-
sylvania Dutch as a book of reference,
ground, its past, its religious groups, the
which is destined to be its greatest value.
avocations of its people, their folk art and
CORNELIUS WEYGANDT
folkways. It is written by one to the
University of Pennsylvania
manor born, a Berks County man who
strives hard to be just to the other Dutch
MILLS, C. WRIGHT, CLARENCE SENIOR, and
counties, but...