From Generation to Generation: A History of Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital by Lesley Marrus Barsky (review)

humanities 517 when a girl married,' and `advice ... to ... Italian-Québécois women today,' so that the very pertinent details of Frascarelli's husband's two-year internment are all but lost. Concerning the two non-Italian interviews, although Maurice Riel was only seventeen in 1939, his interview succeeds in giving a sense of French-speaking Montrealers at the time, whereas the interview with Hugh MacLennan, representing English-speaking Montrealers, contributes little to the topic. (CLAIRE LAVIGNA) Lesley Marrus Barsky. From Generation to Generation: A History of Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital McClelland and Stewart 1998. xii, 308. $40.00 Emerging from humble origins to become one of Canada's premier teaching , research, and acute care hospitals, the history of Mount Sinai Hospital since 1922 reflects not only the particular struggles and successes of an important institution but also the obstacles, growth, and acceptance of Toronto's Jewish community during this period. As a medical historian who has recently written a history of St Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener, founded by Catholic Sisters in 1924, reviewing Mount Sinai's seventy-fifth anniversary book, I can appreciate the challenges involved in writing hospital histories, particularly of denominational institutions. These include maintaining objectivity as a commissioned writer, being sensitive to particular religious issues, especially if one is not a member of that religion, and trying to strike a balance between satisfying readers from both inside and outside the hospital. A professional Toronto journalist, Lesley Marrus Barsky has overcome such challenges admirably, producing a detailed and well-documented chronicle of the dramatic Mount Sinai story, which, as she notes, if it were fiction, `would be a classic coming-of-age novel.' Barsky was first drawn to Mount Sinai while writing an article on Canadian hospitals and was struck by the fact that, in 1992, it had been given an unprecedented and unconditional four-year accreditation by the Canadian Council on Health Facilities Accreditation; most hospitals were lucky to get three years. She wondered how Mount Sinai had achieved so much so quickly, especially in light of the prejudice the disparate, though growing, Jewish community in Toronto, and in particular, Jewish doctors, faced after 1900 and through the interwar period. Documenting how Mount Sinai overcame such obstacles is the primary focus of Barsky's book. It begins with the founding in May 1922 of the Toronto Jewish Maternity and Convalescent Hospital in a small house on Yorkville Avenue by a charitable women's group, the Ezras Noshem, and traces the building, expansion, and rebuilding of Mount Sinai into a pioneering health-care institution on University Avenue. A common challenge for 518 letters in canada 1999 denominational hospitals during this period was how to maintain their religious roots and principles, while operating as publicly funded institutions, particularly when, as at Mount Sinai, most patients have been non-Jewish, or non-Catholic in St Mary's case. While Barsky's `coming-of-age novel' approach makes for a dramatic story, particularly for readers with connections to Mount Sinai, the limitations of her sources tend to dilute the historical value of her book for outside readers. Few primary documents are extant from the first half of Mount Sinai's history and Barsky had to rely on the recollections of surviving individuals, or their families, who were involved with the hospital. Such oral history is very valuable, but in the absence of primary documents from within and outside the hospital, personal memories can often be misleading and self-interested. One perspective that seems lacking is that of the provincial government, which had a growing interest in financing and regulating hospitals during this period. The Archives of Ontario has an extensive collection of microfilmed correspondence between the Ontario Department of Health and individual hospitals, but Barsky appears to have overlooked this primary source. Barsky does a good job of piecing together the history of Mount Sinai, although she has difficulty avoiding getting caught up in an heroic story populated by heroic individuals, especially great doctors. While I have no reason to diminish the contributions of anyone mentioned, they often appear to be more than human. There also tend to be too many names mentioned with little personality...