The Prairie People: Forgotten Anabaptists

The Prairieleut Hutterians, emigrating from the Ukraine in the late nineteenth century to settle on the Dakota plains, are an under-studied American Christian community. While these Prairie People maintain Hutterian social and theological traditions, they have chosen, unlike other Hutterians, to life non-communally. Nonetheless, to this day many of them remain committed to consensus models of decision making, pacifism, a simple lifestyle, and to the social dimension of Christianity. Rod Janzen, who has lived and worked among the Prairie People, weaves firsthand interviews and anecdotes with analysis to illuminate the ongoing struggle of the Prairieleut Hutterites for cultural preservation in the face of North American social pressures.

Rod Janzen is Distinguished Scholar and Professor of History at Fresno Pacific University. He is the author of The Prairie People: Forgotten Anabaptists (1999) and The Rise and Fall of Synanon: A California Utopia (2001).