Hutterite: A World of Grace

Like the Mennonites and the Amish, the Hutterites are farmers--and very successful ones. All three religious communities have resisted modernity in religion, social affairs, and family life, but the Hutterites use state-of-the-art equipment and progressive methods of agriculture.

Their self-imposed isolation and predominantly self-sufficient lifestyle have enabled them to preserve their traditional customs. Photographs of them are rare, and non-Hutterites are considered outsiders. In this outstanding book, the American photographer Kristin Capp offers a penetrating yet sensitive portrait of the Hutterite religious community. Today, more than 40,000 Hutterites live in closed communities in the United States and Canada, in a state of geographical seclusion that has enabled them to preserve their traditional mode of dress and their language., both of which date back to the 16th century.

Nicole Ducols in Utne Reader, of November-December, 1999, writes: “Capp's remarkable record evokes what may have been the original effect of the camera on people as yet unschooled in, or immune to, its intrusions....Few of her camera-shy subjects communicate with the camera in the knowing, even jaded way most of us now take for granted. The result is some of the most stunning photography seen in recent years.”