Antisemitism in Canada: History and Interpretation (review)

Book Reviews 131 writings. Indeed, one wishes that he edited more (I'm reasonably certain that this is not a function of Kaufmann's premature death). Given his particular interest in style, there is irony in this. Similarly, statements are more than occasionally made which, in a lecture, may not require support, but in a book require further development , if not footnotes. For example (p. 141): "In places, Nietzsche almost sounds as if he were responding to Sartre." Which places? or (p. 146, regarding Nietzsche's relationship with lou Salome): "In fact, she had waited for Nietzsche to propose [marriage1, but he never did." In fact? How do we know that she waited for this? or (p. 153): "Many who have no feeling for Nietzsche still suppose that ..." Who, for example, among this "many"? There are many, many such instances where an attentive reader might want to stop Kaufmann and ask for clarification, justification, or sources for his points. However, this small array of criticisms of style and of small points of content are offered in a context ofappreciation for Kaufmann's humanism, admiration for the breadth of resources he commands, and recognition of the significance of this work in enriching our dialogue with key players on the game of nineteenth- and twentieth-century thought. In addition, to return to where these comments began, Ivan Soli's introductory essay is clear, informative, and elegant. One eagerly awaits Volume III of this trilogy. Ori Soltes Klutznick National Jewish Museum and Georgetown University and Cleveland College ofJewish Studies Antisemitism in Canada: History and Interpretation, edited by Alan Davies. Waterloo, Ontario, Canada: Wilfrid laurier University Press, 1992. 304 pp. n.p.l. Canada, Davies observes in his introduction to the eleven articles in this volume, has historically been a country of regions. Quebec contrasts religiously, culturally, and linguistically with the rest of Canada, but within "English" Canada Ontario, the Prairie provinces, British Columbia, and the Maritimes each have their particular traditions and characteristics. These regional differences have had implications for Jewish life and for the specific contours of antisemitism. They have been only partly explored, 132 SHOFAR Winter 1994 Vol. 12, No.2 with lacunae to be filled, Davies comments, before a definitive history of antisemitism in Canada can be written. Davies explores other themes in his introductory essay. He notes the frequent ic,leologicallinkage ofantisemitism to Christianity, which presents a major challenge to that faith. The shadow of the Holocaust is also noted in the introduction. The approaching shadow is seen in the articles on those who promoted a climate of opinion in which Jews were portrayed as dangerous, morally suspect outsiders. The receding but still present shadow is seen in articles on those who deny, justify, or relativize the mass murder of European Jewry. The book is organized historically. The article by Menkis on antisemitism and anti-Judaism in pre-confederation Canada is followed by three chapters on the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Brown surveys the changing view of Jews in Quebec, while Tulchinsky examines the influential "liberal" antisemitism of Goldwin Smith, and Senese discusses responses to the Dreyfus Affair on the Prairies. Articles by Speisman on Ontario, by Anctil on Quebec, and by Palmer on Alberta continue the regional theme into the mid-twentieth century. The regional perspective is less evident in the last four articles-Nefsky's examination of the response of Canadian Protestantism to German Nazism, Davies' analysis of a small-town mayor and a high school teacher who made the Jewish conspiracy the center of his history course until being brought to trial for promoting group hatred, Prutschi's account of an internationally active hatemonger, and Troper and Weinfeld's study of tension between the organized Ukrainian and Jewish communities over the search for Nazi war criminals. The well written and carefully documented articles in this book make it an excellent introduction to a broad body of literature on antisemitism in Canada which has been produced within the past fifteen years. Despite the quality of the volume, other issues are expanding the research agenda. Barrett's 1985 book, Is God a Racist?, documents the centrality of antisemitism to the ideology of the far right and...