“A spectacular incident … had somehow eluded my attention”: The impact of Cyril Levitt and William Shaffir’s book, the riot at christie pits (1987)

The year 2017 marks three decades since the 1987 publication of The Riot at Christie Pits. The book chronicles the events of August 16, 1933, when Toronto experienced one of the most violent riots in Canadian history: young Jewish men retaliated after Nazi sympathizers unfurled a swastika flag at a neighbourhood baseball game. Despite the brutality of the riot, however, it would be 54 years until scholars Cyril Levitt and William Shaffir would document the event. Why did scholars ignore it for so long? Neither Canada, Toronto, nor Jews were invested in rehashing such a dreadful incident. Since the appearance of The Riot at Christie Pits, however, attention to the riot has increased, and its legacy has been viewed in a more positive light.