In the second half of the 19th century several thousand impoverished young Jewish women from Eastern Europe were forced into prostitution in the frontier colonies of Latin America, South Africa, India and parts of the United States. These unwitting Jewish women were procured for the thousands of new European immigrants who came to establish these colonies. The import of these women left a legacy in each of these countries: the rise of anti–Semitism. 
 Bodies and Souls brings to light a dark, untold chapter in Jewish history – a topic previously hidden because of the extreme shame surrounding it. From the end of the 1860s until the beginning of WWII, thousands of young, impoverished Jewish women were sold into slavery by a notorious criminal gang of Jewish mobsters, the Zwi Migdal. By the turn of the 19th century the Zwi Migdal had established their headquarters in Buenos Aires. However, it was in Rio de Janeiro that The Society of Truth was created. 
 The most shameful part of all of this was how the women were treated by the Jewish community. A group of these women banded together to form The Society of Truth. They stood up against the dogma that said they were impure. Herein lies the irony: this group, cast aside by their community, went on to form a new society for themselves, a society of love, honour to God and faith in each other.

Bodies and Souls: The Tragic Plight of Three Jewish Women Forced into Prostitution in the Americas

History

Vincent, Isabel

World

William Morrow

In the second half of the nineteenth century, several thousand impoverished young Jewish women from Eastern Europe were forced into prostitution in the frontier colonies of Latin America, South Africa, India, and parts of the United States by the Zwi Migdal, a notorious criminal gang of Jewish mobsters. Isabel Vincent, acclaimed author of Hitler's Silent Partners, tells the remarkable true story of three such women—Sophia Chamys, Rachel Liberman, and Rebecca Freedman—who, like so many others, were desperate to escape a hopeless future in Europe's teeming urban ghettos and rural shtetls. Bodies and Souls is a shocking and spellbinding account of a monumental betrayal that brings to light a dark and shameful hitherto untold chapter in Jewish history—brilliantly chronicling the heartbreaking plight of women rejected by a society that deemed them impure and detailing their extraordinary struggles to live with dignity in a community of their own creation.

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Harper-perennial

“Isabel Vincent has written a riveting account of the life of the international socialite and billionairess Lily Safra, allegedly the third richest woman in the world.... It’s a very good read.” — Dominick Dunne 
In this absorbing biography of Brazilian-born philanthropist and socialite Lily Safra—the first ever published—acclaimed investigative journalist Isabel Vincent (Bodies and Souls) delves beneath the intrigue surrounding one of the world’s richest women. From her humble beginnings in a Rio de Janeiro shantytown to the tragic death of her fourth husband, legendary billionaire banker Edmond Safra, in an arsonist’s fire in their Monte Carlo penthouse, Gilded Lily combines all the elements of compelling fiction in an absolutely enthralling account.

Gilded Lily: Lily Safra: The Making of One of the World's Wealthiest Widows

Humor & Entertainment

Harper

Christine Lamont and David Spencer were two young Canadian idealists who traveled to Latin America as human rights workers. But in 1989, the pair was charged in the kidnapping of a Brazilian millionaire. Although they pled innocent, they were convicted and sentenced to 28 years in prison. Here, Vincent, who has had access to Lamont and Spencer, retraces the story to show that the couple were anything but "innocents abroad.".

See No Evil: The Strange Case of Christine Lamont and David Spencer

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

McClelland & Stewart Ltd.

Remainder mark on the top edge of the book.

Hitler's Silent Partners

Knopf Canada

Isabel Vincent’s groundbreaking exploration brings to light a dark chapter in our recent history: the white slave trade and the international Jewish mobsters behind it. From the end of the 1860s until the beginning of the Second World War, thousands of young, impoverished Jewish women, most of them from the hard-scrabble shtetls of Eastern Europe, were sold into slavery by a notorious gang of mobsters called the Zwi Migdal. While the enterprise controlled brothels in various locales, its main centres of operation were Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and, to a lesser extent, New York City. To recruit vulnerable country girls, pimps would target villages of desperate poverty, where they posed as respectable suitors of considerable means who had made their money abroad. They would arrange sham marriages to their victims and promise them an easy life in the New World. But once they’d crossed the ocean, these Jewish women found themselves caught up in the white slave trade. Under frequently brutal conditions, the young women had to service the needs of a booming population of immigrant men. An added hardship to endure was being vehemently shunned by the “respectable” Jewish community. Banned from synagogue and reviled by their neighbors, the women were forbidden from partaking in the sacred Jewish burial ritual. So prostitutes banded together to form the Society of Truth, with the promise to do all could they could to help each other be buried in dignity. Through the society the women observed religious life together, setting up private synagogues and kosher kitchens. Cast aside by their community, they created their own: a society of love, honour to God and faith in each other. With the determination and skill of her training as an investigative journalist, Isabel Vincent tells an unforgettable and gripping tale of a shameful chapter in recent history.

Americas

Random House Canada

Isabel Vincent’s groundbreaking exploration brings to light a dark chapter in our recent history: the white slave trade and the international Jewish mobsters behind it. From the end of the 1860s until the beginning of the Second World War, thousands of young, impoverished Jewish women, most of them from the hard-scrabble shtetls of Eastern Europe, were sold into slavery by a notorious gang of mobsters called the Zwi Migdal. While the enterprise controlled brothels in various locales, its main centres of operation were Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and, to a lesser extent, New York City. To recruit vulnerable country girls, pimps would target villages of desperate poverty, where they posed as respectable suitors of considerable means who had made their money abroad. They would arrange sham marriages to their victims and promise them an easy life in the New World. But once they’d crossed the ocean, these Jewish women found themselves caught up in the white slave trade. Under frequently brutal conditions, the young women had to service the needs of a booming population of immigrant men. An added hardship to endure was being vehemently shunned by the “respectable” Jewish community. Banned from synagogue and reviled by their neighbors, the women were forbidden from partaking in the sacred Jewish burial ritual. So prostitutes banded together to form the Society of Truth, with the promise to do all could they could to help each other be buried in dignity. Through the society the women observed religious life together, setting up private synagogues and kosher kitchens. Cast aside by their community, they created their own: a society of love, honour to God and faith in each other. With the determination and skill of her training as an investigative journalist, Isabel Vincent tells an unforgettable and gripping tale of a shameful chapter in recent history. From the Hardcover edition.

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Vintage Canada

Vienna, 1939: "If anything happens to us, I have money in Switzerland."
These were among the last words that sixteen-year-old Renie Lang's grandfather said to her before he perished in the Holocaust. Fifty years later, Renee and thousands like her are trying to find their rightful inheritances in Swiss banks -- and the world faces appalling revelations that "neutral" Switzerland acted as secret banker to the Nazis, abetting the German war against the Jewish people.
Award-winning journalist Isabel Vincent unravels the labyrinthine story behind the headlines: how desperate men and women tried to secure their families' futures by opening bank accounts in Switzerland; how the Nazis laundered, through Swiss banks, gold seized from the treasuries of occupied countries, much of it looted from the Jews; how the demands of international business, Swiss bank secrecy, and greed have conspired to prevent the truth from being disclosed for over half a century and still prevent restitution.
Balanced, rigorous, and often heartbreaking, this major work also gives a human face to the statistics: a crusading Toronto lawyer; Edgar Bronfman, the passionate head of the World Jewish Congress; a Swiss parliamentarian determined to discover her country's past; and Renie, a survivor waiting in the shadows for some small justice, already a little too late.

Hitler's Silent Partners: Swiss Banks, Nazi Gold, And The Pursuit Of Justice

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Vincent, Isabel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Vincent, Isabel

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Vincent, Isabel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Bodies and Souls: The Tragic Plight of Three Jewish Women Forced into Prostitution in the Americas

Bodies and Souls: The Tragic Plight of Three Jewish Women Forced into Prostitution in the Americas

Gilded Lily: Lily Safra: The Making of One of the World's Wealthiest Widows

Gilded Lily: Lily Safra: The Making of One of the World's Wealthiest Widows

See No Evil: The Strange Case of Christine Lamont and David Spencer

Hitler's Silent Partners

Bodies and Souls: The Tragic Plight of Three Jewish Women Forced into Prostitution in the Americas

Bodies and Souls: The Tragic Plight of Three Jewish Women Forced into Prostitution in the Americas

Hitler's Silent Partners: Swiss Banks, Nazi Gold, And The Pursuit Of Justice

Hitler's Silent Partners: Swiss Banks, Nazi Gold, And The Pursuit Of Justice