Filled with original documents and vintage illustrations, this history chronicles the lives of the Hart family—a Jewish family who settled in predominantly Catholic Trois-Rivières, Quebec, in 1761. Following Aaron Hart and his descendants for a century, this account not only bares the Jewish struggle for equality and freedom, but also delineates the contributions made by the various family members—including the passing of the Jewish Emancipation Act in 1832 and the creation of the Hart Memorial Trophy for the National Hockey League’s Most Valuable Player. A fascinating and comprehensive read, this book breaks new ground in its examination of the Jewish experience in North America.
The saga of the Hart family . . . marks a milestone in the worldwide struggle for Jewish emancipation. . . . Vaugeois's fascinating account, amply illustrated by archival documents, is a valuable contribution to the history of Quebec, Canada and minority-majority relations. —www.MontrealGazette.com
We can feel Vaugeois's pleasure as he links history to private memoir. . . . It is charming, but Vaugeois is also politically motivated. —Victor Rabinovitch, former president and CEO of Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation
This is a fine translation. . . . Verdict: A significant contribution to our understanding of this period from the perspective of a family espousing a minority faith. Non-French-reading students of Canadian, Jewish, and North American social history will be rewarded in choosing this book. —www.LibraryJournal.com
Denis Vaugeoisis a historian, a publisher, and the author of various books on North American and European history, includingAmerica: The Lewis & Clark Expedition and the Dawn of a New PowerandMapping a Continent. He is also Quebec’s former minister of cl%
![The First Jews in North America: The Extraordinary Story of the Hart Family (17601860) [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/1/5/6/2_6894757.jpg "The First Jews in North America: The Extraordinary Story of the Hart Family (17601860) [Paperback]")