Eighty-three-year-old Mennonite historian John L. Ruth tells his own story in essays and photos, along with that of his family and his Mennonite community. In this small coffee-table-style book, each of 210 two-page spreads opens to a short essay paired with a full-page picture. Ruth, a Harleysville, Pa., resident, chose this format "to explore synergy between a lifetime's collection of pictures and the words they may call forth." The photos, both vintage and recent color ones, draw the reader into the narrative. That narrative begins at his birthplace, the 1809 Lower Salford Township farm on the east branch of the Perkiomen Creek. (431pp. color illus. hardcover. Author, 2013.)