Out of This World A Journey of Healing

"A sensitive... memoir of an outsider's life in one of Iowa's Amish communities. Poet Swander makes her second foray into nonfiction... with this account of the hardships and rewards of living off the land when severe allergies to virtually all nonorganic food forced her into a one-room schoolhouse among an enduringly enigmatic group of simple folk. Depicting her life from childhood on, she offers many examples of her longstanding difficulties with food: falling asleep at the kitchen table when her mother demanded she sit there until she'd cleaned her plate, inexplicable rashes and sinus headaches..., a diagnosis in her 20s of an intolerance to milk and eggs, and then... mistreatment by an allergist that almost killed her... Swander entertains with her quest to find tolerable foods... but soon reveals that her allergies extend even farther, to most things synthetic, like toothpaste and man-made fibers... Straightforward and detailed observation of the Amish... Rare but lucid insights on one of this country's misunderstood cultures.Swander, Mary is the author of 'Out of This World A Journey of Healing' with ISBN 9780140241709 and ISBN 0140241701.