In the picturesque Amish community of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, life’s detours may prove the path to true happiness . . . After a buggy accident when she was a teenager, Anna Flaud was told she would never walk again. Unwilling to be an object of pity, she put aside her dreams of marriage and found purpose as an assistant at a Community Care Center. Now she has a chance to fulfill her dearest wish—motherhood—and adopt three siblings with special needs. Yet the opportunity comes with a condition Anna isn’t sure she can meet: finding a husband. Levi King began working at the center as penance after a careless mistake led to tragedy. Though he’s dealing with his own heartbreak, he’s drawn to Anna, cheering her on as she strives to regain her mobility. Her quiet determination, her generous heart—these are qualities to cherish in a wife. Still, Anna’s plans give him pause. Given his past, Levi hardly trusts himself to care for one child, let alone three. Yet together, perhaps they could forge a family made sturdier by all they’ve overcome . . .

Explores the place of Asian Americans in contemporary American politics and society, the nature of race, and the price of assimilation.

Editor: winter 1939-autumn 1941 J. C. Ransom.

Many Circles collects the best of Goldbarth's three earlier essay collections, along with several new pieces. Goldbarth, whom Joyce Carol Oates has called "a dazzling virtuoso who can break your heart," weaves through an array of fascinating topics (including alien life, Jewish history, pop culture, ancient and recent events, and quantum physics) to explore the greater questions of our existence and our universe. Each essay, in language and topic, is a rich and extraordinary adventure, full of surprise and epiphany. As Robert Atwan, editor of The Best American Essays series, has noted: "Theses essays are a whole new breed . . . Goldbarth has spliced strands of the old genre with a powerful new gene—and the results are miraculous."

Highly acclaimed in previous editions, this classic work by John Hostetler has been expanded and updated to reflect current research on Amish history and culture as well as the new concerns of Amish communities throughout North America.