The Jewish Pedlar: An Untold Criminal History by Tony Kushner

Friends of the JHSE have been offered a generous 30% discount on Tony Kushner's latest book. Add the code 'EVENT30' at checkout on the publishers website here: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526178022/

About the book

An imaginative investigation into a historical crime that sheds new light on Jewish history.

In 1734 a pedlar turned smuggler named Jacob Harris slit the throats of three people in a pub in Sussex. This triple-murder, for which he was hanged and gibbeted, remains the most violent crime ever committed by a British Jew. Yet today it is all but forgotten.

In The Jewish pedlar, Tony Kushner goes in search of the enigmatic Harris. Digging into a remarkable range of sources, from law records and newspaper reports to ballads and folktales, he follows the traces of Harris's legend across three hundred years of British history. In doing so, he reconstructs the world of Jewish pedlars and criminals across many continents. The lives these figures eked out at the margins of society paint a picture of persistent antisemitism - but also of remarkable integration.

Intellectually bold and deeply humane, The Jewish pedlar takes a new, grassroots approach to the history of Jews in the modern world, shedding light on everyday lives from the Enlightenment to the Holocaust and beyond.

Book launch event

For those in the Southampton area, there will be a book launch held at October Books on the evening of the 4th of June. Full details and tickets found here.