Manufacturing Mennonites: Work and Religion in Post-War Manitoba

‘This is a pioneering work in a new area of study for Mennonites… It has an urban, industrial focus and draws for theoretical and comparative purposes on the scholarly literature of business and labor history applied in new and interesting ways.’ James Urry, Mennonite Quarterly Review, January 2014

‘Manufacturing Mennonites could prove to be a model for other scholars examining the relationship between religion and corporate culture.’ Stephanie Kreihbiel, Oral History Review, April 2014

‘This is an important and suggestive study that should put to rest tendencies either to ignore religion, or to assume that it has an autonomous power outside of the nexus of capitalist social relations.’ James Naylor, Oral History Forum, vol 33:2013

‘Compelling study… Manufacturing Mennonites could prove to be a model for other scholars examining the relationships between religion and corporate culture.’ Stephanie Krehbiel, Oral History Review, vol 41:01:2014

‘A finely nuanced study of the ways in which Mennonites experience social class relations.’

Alvin Finkel, Journal of Mennonite Studies, vol 32:2014

‘This monograph is a welcome contribution to the social history of religion in Canada… It contributes to our understanding of the complex ways in which religious faith can impact workers’ class consciousness and activism.’

Lynne Marks, Labour/le Travail vol 75:2015

“Manufacturing Mennonites is a first-rate work that opens up much new terrain not only in Mennonite history and life in contemporary North America, but also in the intersecting fields of religion and social class relations. Along with her careful, painstaking primary research, Janis Thiessen uses a wide-ranging and interdisciplinary approach that moves seamlessly through the fields of labour, ethnic, gender, and business history, as well as economics and even theology. Very well written, provocative, and thoughtful, this book is a remarkable accomplishment and a major contribution to the current literature.” Perry Bush, Department of History, Bluffton University

“Much of the historiography on Mennonites has emphasized their rural, agricultural livelihood. Manufacturing Mennonites is significant for illuminating the significant role of Mennonite-owned manufacturing industries in the late twentieth century. This well-written work makes an important contribution to the study of Mennonite history and Canadian business history.” Marlene Epp, Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo