Social and cultural history Books

Book SynopsisKadya Molodowsky, the most prolific woman writer of Yiddish, wrote an autobiographical memoir that left many questions unanswered. Why does she say of her wedding day only that she wore new shoes and fell in the snow? Did she join those who saw communism as the answer to the Jewish problem? Why did she leave Israel after having spent only three years there? It took Zelda Kahan Newman's research at three archives, the YIVO archive in New York, the Municipal Jewish Library in Montreal, and the Machon Lavon archive in Ne'ot Afeka, Israel, to discover the answers to these questions. In this biography, Kahan Newman covers the arc of Molodowsky's life, a life that saw pogroms, World War I, an escape from Europe to the United States, and an attempt to revive Yiddish culture after World War II. Finally, as Kahan Newman notes, it was an ironic twist of fate "that Kadya's death was noted in the U.S., where she felt increasingly alien, and ignored in Israel, where she felt she belonged, if only in spirit.

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Book SynopsisIn 1851, Stephen C. Foster purchased a blank notebook, in which he wrote original manuscripts for both famous songs such as "My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!" and "Old Folks at Home," as well as lesser-known songs such as "The Little Ballad Girl," "Ellen Bayne," and "Jenny's Coming O'er the Green." Never published in its entirety, this first edition of Stephen C. Foster's manuscript book preserves his original notes and marginalia while offering valuable insights into the creative process of America's first professional composer.

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Book SynopsisAntisemitism in the twenty-first century remains a major threat to Jewish communities around the world, and a potent challenge to the liberal international order. But it can so often be a more hidden form of racism, relying on codes, images, cues, and ciphers embedded in the cultural mythology of prejudice against Jews. It is about the invocation of the blood libel, attacks on so-called "cosmopolitans," accusations of "dual loyalty," and conspiratorial notions of malign "Jewish power." It is also a highly protean prejudice, ever adaptable to a multitude of changes in political and social circumstances, always ready to mutate and shape-shift to fit a new environment. That is why it has so easily become a feature of the modern anti-Israel movement. This short volume will explore how anti-Israelism has reproduced many of the canards, tropes, and ciphers of historic Jew-hatred and regurgitated them as attacks on Zionism and Israel. The adverse treatment of Jews within Gentile societies has also been replicated in an endless array of double standards against Israel in the international community. Today, the "Jewish question" has been replaced by the "Israel question," with a similarly obsessive and ritualistic form of demonization and delegitimization. Anyone concerned about the future of liberal democracy should take note.

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Book SynopsisThis book shows how human rights became the primary language for social change in Canada and how a single decade became the locus for that emergence. The author argues that the 1970s was a critical moment in human rights history--one that transformed political culture, social movements, law, and foreign policy. Human Rights in Canada is one of the first sociological studies of human rights in Canada. It explains that human rights are a distinct social practice, and it documents those social conditions that made human rights significant at a particular historical moment. A central theme in this book is that human rights derive from society rather than abstract legal principles. Therefore, we can identify the boundaries and limits of Canada's rights culture at different moments in our history. Until the 1970s, Canadians framed their grievances with reference to Christianity or British justice rather than human rights. A historical sociological approach to human rights reveals how rights are historically contingent, and how new rights claims are built upon past claims. This book explores governments' tendency to suppress rights in periods of perceived emergency; how Canada's rights culture was shaped by state formation; how social movements have advanced new rights claims; the changing discourse of rights in debates surrounding the constitution; how the international human rights movement shaped domestic politics and foreign policy; and much more. In addition to drawing on secondary literature in law, history, sociology, and political science, this study looked to published government documents, litigation and case law, archival research, newspapers, opinion polls, and materials produced by non-governmental organizations.Trade ReviewClément's book is a useful introductory tool that, accompanied by his online portal at HistoryofRights.ca, provides an important resource about something that can be so easily swept away. -- Matthew Behrens -- Quill and Quire, 20160201In remarkably lucid prose, Dominique Clément reveals the evolution of Canada's rights culture from British conventions to post-Charter innovations, from civil liberties to human rights, from mere equality before the law to 'the most sophisticated human rights legal regime in the world.' Along the way, he reminds us that rights don't exist in the abstract, that they evolve within a culture as that culture evolves, that the rights revolution is far from complete, especially for Indigenous Canadians, and that in the end, 'human rights are, and always should be, a dialogue.' An invaluable book." - John Ibbitson, Writer at Large, The Globe and Mail -- John IbbitsonDominique Clément takes us on an invaluable journey through history, law, politics and society, examining how those forces have embedded human rights at the heart of what it is to be Canadian. From the political rebellions of the 1830s, through to highly charged social change in the 1970s and ground-breaking Supreme Court rulings in 2015, there is hardly a crackdown, social movement or court ruling of human rights significance that is not woven into this remarkable account. He stresses throughout that Canada's rights culture has been a continuing evolution, reflected as much in ongoing social dialogue as it is in laws that have been passed. Understanding our unique national rights culture helps illuminate the past. It also importantly frames the human rights challenges and responsibilities that lie ahead. - Alex Neve, Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada (English Canada) -- Alex Neve, Amnesty International Canada (English Canada)Anyone interested in human rights in Canada should read this engaging book. Clément provides a thorough history of the topic, from the 18th-century conquest to contemporary debates on the meaning of human rights. Of particular note is his stress on Aboriginal rights, women's rights, rights of sexual minorities, human rights in Quebec, and human rights in Canadian foreign policy. A readable, comprehensive volume, Human Rights in Canada is especially suitable for classroom use. - Rhoda Howard-Hassmann, Canada Research Chair in International Human Rights; Professor, Department of Political Science, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Balsillie School of International Affairs -- Rhoda Howard-HassmannClement ... presents a history of how Canada developed "its own unique rights culture," shaped by the idea that "human rights are a sociological and historical phenomenon as well as a legal fact." ... [Human Rights in Canada: A History] will be an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the formation of modern Canada. -- Publishers Weekly, 20160321Clément has rendered a great service to scholars and the general public in composing this account of the history of human rights in Canada for there is no doubt that human rights has been and remains at the centre of a deep transformation of the Canadian social order. -- Tom Mitchell -- Labour/Le travail 83Table of ContentsTable of Contents for Human Rights in Canada: A History by Dominique Clément Preface Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Liberty and State Formation 2. Civil Liberties in Canada 3. Human Rights Beginnings 4. The Rights Revolution 5. Contesting Human Rights Conclusion Works Cited Notes Additional Resources Index

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Book SynopsisFrom Sojourners to Citizens: Alberta's Italian History brings to life the untold story of Italian immigrants in Alberta from the 1880s to the present. It places them in the narrative of province building from work on railways, mines and other industries to breaking the land for agriculture. Oral history excerpts allow the men, women and children to speak for themselves. What emerges is an unquenchable desire to make good, and overcome intolerable working conditions and discrimination, which culminated with enemy alien designation and internment during the Second World War. The book also provides an exploration of the impact of Government of Canada's multicultural policy on the process of assimilation for the post-war influx of immigrants. It offers a prototype of an immigrant community's movement from marginalization to the mainstream.Trade ReviewBeing named enemy aliens shamed Italian-Albertans. Many denied their ethnicity. They forgot their language and took on Anglo names. Adriana Davies counteracts that negativity with an opposing story of accomplishment and pride. -- Alberta Views

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