The Devil in Babylon: Fear of Progress
and the Birth of Modern Life
From McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 2005.
What should the modern world look like? Who should be
its leaders? And what values should it embrace? We have
never wrestled over these questions more than in the
first three decades of the twentieth century.
Allan Levine’s newest book chronicles this wide-ranging emotional and moral conflict by focusing on the people who lived through this turbulent era: an array of personalities – traditionalists as well as progressives, the powerful and the powerless – who, for better or worse, shaped the contours of contemporary North American society. Among them were anarchist Emma Goldman, prohibitionist and creationist William Jennings Bryan, women’s rights campaigner Nellie McClung, and gangster Al Capone.
Their personal experiences are set against the heated debate about the impact of immigration, the role of women, the conflict between science and religion, the influence of Hollywood, and the changing attitudes about sex – issues that preoccupied, and even consumed, North Americans of all classes.
“[A] wonderful history of sin in the city in the
early 20th century.”
—Globe and Mail
“ A fair-minded, fascinating and well-balanced book.”
—National Post
“ Levine has written a fast-paced and abundantly informative
study of early twentieth-century social history…His book
is a whirlwind tour through the years. It repays reading and
re-reading. I wouldn’t have missed a single page. Trust
me—you’ll feel the same.”
—Books in Canada
“ Levine brings the historical material to vivid life,
shining new light on previously well-trodden ground
…. [The Devil in Babylon is] a sterling example of popular
history that gives the reader much to think about.”
—Vancouver Sun
“ Levine has written an enjoyable, fascinating and readable
book….Levine is an excellent storyteller….He writes
clearly and evocatively.”
—Winnipeg Free Press"Compelling and gracefully written work of popular
history…Levine's portraits of the characters on
both sides of the divide are fascinating…The Devil
in Babylon is an engrossing and somewhat prophetic book,
a reminder that a commitment to social justice and fairness
is an evolving covenant."
—Quill and Quire
"Levine has clearly mastered the skill of historical
narrative."
—Philip Marchand, Toronto Star
Read an excerpt in the April-May, 2005 issue of The Beaver magazine
Scattered Among the Peoples: The Jewish Diaspora in Ten Portraits
From McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 2002.
Also published as
Scattered Among the Peoples:
The
Jewish Diaspora in Twelve Portraits
From The Overlook Press, New York, 2003
and Duckworth Publishers, London, 2003.
Now Available in Trade Paper
FROM SEVILLE IN 1492 to Kiev in 1967, book brings to
life ten defining points (and twelve in the U.S./U.K.
editions) in the Jewish Diaspora in a series of moment-in-time
portraits of individual people, their families and communities,
and the cities they inhabited. In addition to Seville, where the story begins with
the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, and Kiev, where
the refusenik Jews fought for the right to emigrate to
Israel, there is Venice in 1516 and the establishment
of the first ghetto, Constantinople in 1666 and the Jewish
physicians to the sultans, Amsterdam in 1700 and the
glorious rebirth of Sephardic Jewish culture, Vienna
in 1730 and the immensely powerful yet vulnerable court
Jews, St Petersburg in 1881 and the pogroms inflicted
on the shtetls, Paris in 1895 and the Dreyfus scandal,
New York in 1913 and the tenement life and culture of
the Lower East Side, and the dreadful plight of the Vilna
ghetto in 1944. The U.S./U.K. editions also examine Frankfurt
in the 1840s during the Age of Emancipation and Berlin
in 1925 when there was talk of a German-Jewish ‘symbiosis.’
But the focus of each chapter is the personal and public
lives of individuals. A few, such as merchant and poet
Don Isaac Abravanel, soldier Alfred Dreyfus, and writer
and editor Abraham Cahan, are well known; others, like
doctor Moses Hamon, financier Samuel Oppenheimer, and
journalist Judah Leib Gordon, are now unjustly forgotten.
Their successes or failures as teachers, rabbis, merchants,
writers, soldiers, and physicians add a colourful and
human dimension to the sprawling saga of the Diaspora.
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Short-listed for the McNally-Robinson Manitoba Book of the Year, 2003
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Short-listed for the Isbister Non-Fiction Book of the Year, 2003
International Praise
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"Bears the mark of the novelist."
—Quill & Quire -
"Immensely informative and accessible.… Levine's strategy is very clever…Throughout this journey, we encounter a range of mesmerizing characters. … By the book's end [Levine] has managed to weave these separate snapshots into a compelling and devastating portrait."
—Globe and Mail -
"A tightly focused book…Levine's account is spirited and deft…His skill at recasting familiar history makes this a useful and lively introduction to the subject."
—Jerusalem Post -
"A fluent recounting of eight centuries [of Jewish history]…Lively portraits of historical figures large and small…"
—Kirkus -
"[A] sprawling, highly readable historical survey…Levine's account is insightful, informative and great popular history. He has an easy style and can pack a wealth of information into a brief essay…an entertaining and useful book."
—Publishers Weekly -
"His is a wandering tale that moves from royal courts to backwater towns, form gloried respect to frenzied fear. Above all, it is a saga of survival."
—Dallas News -
"Levine has given us an exceedingly well-written survey of Jewish history…[The] author [has the] remarkable ability to combine lively popular history with outstanding scholarship."
—Broward Jewish Journal (Florida)
Fugitives of the Forest: The Heroic Story
of Jewish Resistance and Survival
During the Second World War

Originally published by Stoddart and now reprinted by
The Lyons Press, an imprint of The Globe Pequot Press
More than fifty years ago, as the Second World War and the Nazi assault on Europe ended, approximately 25,000 Jews, entire families in some instances walked out of the forests of Eastern Europe. For three years, these men, women and children had miraculously survived eluding Nazi hunts and Soviet, Polish, and Ukrainian partisans who often killed first and asked questions later. They had escaped from the Nazi ghettos and slave labour camps and formed secret partisan camps in the surrounding forests. The forest not only protected them, it also became their base for sabotage and resistance efforts against the Germans and their allies.
Based on numerous interviews with the survivors, this book tells the partisans’ harrowing and heroic story. Among them:
- The tale of the Vilna Ghetto
- The tragic resistance struggle of Dr. Yeheskel Atlas
- The bravery and resourcefulness of Misha Gildenman
- The remarkable story of Tuvia Bielski and his rescue of more than 1200 Jews from a certain death
Many of us will ask the troubling question, why did
not more Jews resist? But the question should be, how,
under the circumstances, was any resistance possible
at all?
- Winner of the 1999 Yad Vashem Prize for Holocaust History in Canada
- Short-listed for the McNally-Robinson Manitoba Book of the Year, 1999
- A selection of the Traditions Book Club in the United States
Praise
- “Allan Levine’s ambitious chronicle…meticulously
researched…is a must read for those who wonder
about organized Jewish resistance to the Holocaust.”
—Globe and Mail - “ [This] book justifies itself historically
and morally. Levine’s sober tone is, after all,
a retort to the livid obscenity of history."
—Toronto Star - “ Allan Levine has written an important book…He
tells the story of Jewish armed resistance in Eastern
Europe very well. He weaves personal vignettes, often
poignant into his narrative…His graphic and gripping
account should ensure a wide readership.”
—Winnipeg Free Press - “ For those of us who participated in the events
detailed in this book, its significance lies in the
author’s ability to chronicle our thoughts, our
moods, our objectives, our tragedies, and our sufferings,
as well as our hopes, dreams, and victories.”
—Peter Silverman, A Former Partisan
Scrum Wars: The Prime Ministers
and the Media
From Dundurn Press, Toronto, 1993
A lively look at the complex relationship between the Prime Ministers of Canada and the media. Based on a year of independent research at the National Archives in Ottawa as well as in other archives and libraries across the country, this book examines the often-strained relationship between Canadian prime ministers and the media from John A. Macdonald to Brian Mulroney. More than 60 interviews were conducted with the who’s who of Ottawa to produce a provocative and insightful survey of how journalists have affected the course of Canadian political history.
Praise
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"Allan Levine has produced a masterful survey of how the media and Canadian prime ministers interact, protect and savage one another"Levine makes a subject that could have been a real snorer read like a detective novel…"
—Peter C. Newman, Maclean’s -
"It’s about time someone came close to telling the truth…of how the information that voters need to make democratic decisions is harshly brokered between and among politicians, reporters and the owners of the nation’s media outlets…Scrum Wars makes a good start…"
—Globe and Mail, December 18, 1993
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"Allan Levine is quickly emerging as one of the country’s best popular historians…Anyone concerned about the power of the national media…would do well to read Scrum Wars."
—Prince George Citizen, March 17, 1994
Early Works
Your Worship: The Lives of Eight of Canada’s
Most Unforgettable Mayors
(Editor and contributor).
From James Lorimer & Company, Toronto, 1989
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An entertaining portrait of eight of Canada’s most dynamic civic leaders. As editor, I oversaw the entire project, edited the book and researched and wrote a chapter on former Winnipeg mayor Stephen Juba.
Praise
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"A highly-entertaining flashback."
—Winnipeg Free Press -
"[Levine] has added a delightful volume to the history of Canadian politics."
—Ottawa Citizen -
"Levine has compiled an entertaining and informative survey."
—Alberta Report
The Exchange: 100 Years of Trading Grain in Winnipeg.
From Peguis Publishers, Winnipeg , 1987
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The first book-length study of the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange and its role in the history of the Canadian grain trade. Based on two years of research and interviewing in Winnipeg, Ottawa and Chicago.
Praise
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"[Levine] can write with the best of the Canadian journalist-quasi-historians."
—Vancouver Sun -
"An impressive first work by a promising author."
—Winnipeg Free Press