Alice in Shandehland

Scandal and Scorn in the Edelson/Horwitz Murder Case

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science
Cover of the book Alice in Shandehland by Monda Halpern, MQUP
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Monda Halpern ISBN: 9780773583405
Publisher: MQUP Publication: June 1, 2015
Imprint: MQUP Language: English
Author: Monda Halpern
ISBN: 9780773583405
Publisher: MQUP
Publication: June 1, 2015
Imprint: MQUP
Language: English

By 1931, Ben and Alice Edelson had been married for two decades and had seven children, but for years Alice had been having an affair with the married Jack Horwitz. On the night of 24 November, Ben, Alice, and Jack met at Edelson Jewellers to "settle the thing." Words flew, a brawl erupted, and Jack was shot and killed. The tragedy marked the start of a sensational legal case that captured Ottawa headlines, with the prominent jeweller facing the gallows. Through a detailed examination of newspaper coverage, interviews with family and community members, and evocative archival photographs, Monda Halpern's Alice in Shandehland reconstructs a long-silenced murder case in Depression-era Canada. Halpern contends that despite his crime, Ben Edelson was the object of far less contempt than his adulterous wife whose shandeh - Yiddish for shame or disgrace - seemed indefensible. While Alice endured the censure of both the Jewish community and the courtroom, Ben’s middle-class respectability and the betrayal he suffered earned him favoured standing and, ultimately, legal exoneration. Revealing the tensions around ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and class, Alice in Shandehland explores the divergent reputations of Ben and Alice Edelson within a growing but insular and tenuous Jewish community, and within a dominant culture that embraced male success and valour during the emasculating 1930s.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

By 1931, Ben and Alice Edelson had been married for two decades and had seven children, but for years Alice had been having an affair with the married Jack Horwitz. On the night of 24 November, Ben, Alice, and Jack met at Edelson Jewellers to "settle the thing." Words flew, a brawl erupted, and Jack was shot and killed. The tragedy marked the start of a sensational legal case that captured Ottawa headlines, with the prominent jeweller facing the gallows. Through a detailed examination of newspaper coverage, interviews with family and community members, and evocative archival photographs, Monda Halpern's Alice in Shandehland reconstructs a long-silenced murder case in Depression-era Canada. Halpern contends that despite his crime, Ben Edelson was the object of far less contempt than his adulterous wife whose shandeh - Yiddish for shame or disgrace - seemed indefensible. While Alice endured the censure of both the Jewish community and the courtroom, Ben’s middle-class respectability and the betrayal he suffered earned him favoured standing and, ultimately, legal exoneration. Revealing the tensions around ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and class, Alice in Shandehland explores the divergent reputations of Ben and Alice Edelson within a growing but insular and tenuous Jewish community, and within a dominant culture that embraced male success and valour during the emasculating 1930s.

More books from MQUP

Cover of the book The Book of Absolutes by Monda Halpern
Cover of the book Frontiers and Sanctuaries by Monda Halpern
Cover of the book Censored by Monda Halpern
Cover of the book Thinking about Faith by Monda Halpern
Cover of the book What's the Import? by Monda Halpern
Cover of the book Sorrows of a Century by Monda Halpern
Cover of the book Selected Essays of Sean O'Faolain by Monda Halpern
Cover of the book Robert Lepage on the Toronto Stage by Monda Halpern
Cover of the book Global Shift: Asia, Africa, and Latin America, 1945-2007 by Monda Halpern
Cover of the book Imagining Justice by Monda Halpern
Cover of the book The Development of Postsecondary Education Systems in Canada by Monda Halpern
Cover of the book Easy Prey Investors by Monda Halpern
Cover of the book The Politics of Canadian Foreign Policy, Fourth Edition by Monda Halpern
Cover of the book Common Sense and Legal Judgment by Monda Halpern
Cover of the book Equivocal City by Monda Halpern
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy