No Permanent City

T.D. Regehr is a history professor at the University of Saskatchewan and
author of The Beauharnois Scandal: A Story of Entrepreneurship and
Politics.

Mennonites are a people living in diaspora. Early persecutions, new
economic opportunities on eastern and western settlement frontiers, a
propensity toward fragmentation and divisions, and new missionary and
evangelization programs have resulted in a scattering of Mennonites to
all parts of the world. Stories are an important and effective way for
such people to communicate common values, aspirations, and sorrows.

This book presents 45 Mennonite stories in vignette format. These are
short pictures or insights into specific aspects of Mennonite life that
range from the typical to the highly unusual. Some are drawn from the
16th century, others from more recent times, up to the present. The
stories were not selected to support some clearly defined argument or
interpretation, or to teach moral lessons, “but to entertain and to
inform the reader concerning aspects of Mennonite faith and life.”

The stories, all of which are historically based, include tragic
persecution accounts, frontier adventures, intimate depictions of love
and caring, military experiences, and even a dispute about wigs. Written
in a lively and accessible style, they constitute a strong portrait of
the Mennonite people, their faith, and their practices.