Skip to content
The Jewish Pedlar: An Untold Criminal History (Hardback)
  • The Jewish Pedlar: An Untold Criminal History (Hardback)
zoom

The Jewish Pedlar: An Untold Criminal History (Hardback)

(author)
£25.00
Hardback 384 Pages
Published: 20/05/2025
Free UK delivery on orders over £25
  • Coming soon

Awaiting publication

Free UK delivery on orders over £25
  • This item has been added to your basket

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.

Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9781526178022
Number of pages: 384
Dimensions: 234 x 156 mm


MEDIA REVIEWS

'A wonderful read! A topic too often neglected and brought to light with drama, sensitivity and rigorous scholarship. Essential for a full understanding of the contemporary Jewish world.'Harry Freedman, author of Shylock's Venice‘The Jewish Pedlar tells the riveting story of Jacob Harris, whose turbulent life became the stuff of legends and ballads. It also challenges any idea you may have had about what a Jew is or can be.’Miri Rubin, author of Cities of Strangers‘Compelling, rewarding, filled with telling detail and provocative insight, The Jewish pedlar reveals an unexpected and adventurous story. A single notorious crime remembered across four centuries of ethnic and colonial history – Kushner’s account ranges from obscure life story to transnational trade networks of diasporic experience.’Peter Leese, author of Migrant Representations‘The past is never dead. Unveiling layer upon layer, Tony Kushner makes this abundantly clear as he explains why the life and crimes of an eighteenth-century Jewish pedlar, Jacob Harris, are worthy of contemplation. Beautifully written. A tour de force.’Milton Shain, author of A Perfect Storm: Antisemitism in South Africa'The Jewish pedlar not only provides an illuminating viewpoint of this overlooked part of British history but is also engaging to read. It uncovers the various threads with a scholarly balance that neither sensationalises nor falls prey to nostalgia. Tony Kushner's refreshing approach widens the scope for subjective stories to emerge while providing the important wider context.'Mia Spiro, Senior Lecturer in Modern Jewish Culture and Holocaust Studies, University of Glasgow‘Professor Kushner's newest book is path-breaking both in its methodology and in its scope. It is a carefully researched quest for the historical Jacob Harris, a Jewish pedlar who was convicted and hanged for a triple murder in eighteenth-century Sussex, and a thoughtful reflection on how the themes of Jewish criminality and Jewish peddling have resonated in British culture since then.’Todd M. Endelman, author of The Last Anglo-Jewish Gentleman - .

You may also be interested in...

Gimson’s Kings and Queens
Added to basket
Making Sense of the Troubles
Added to basket
Witches
Added to basket
Paperback
£12.99
A History Of Scotland
Added to basket
In These Times
Added to basket
Paperback
£16.99
A History of Ancient Britain
Added to basket
Civil War
Added to basket
Paperback
£16.99
A History of Wales
Added to basket
The Norman Conquest
Added to basket
State of Emergency
Added to basket
A Brief History of Ireland
Added to basket
The Hollow Crown
Added to basket
Paperback
£12.99
Henry VIII
Added to basket
Paperback
£14.99
The Churchill Factor
Added to basket

Please sign in to write a review

Your review has been submitted successfully.