36 Letters

<p>An American success saga</p><p>Of course every family has stories and each of these stories is special. We are fortunate to have letters first-person accounts of our family's experience during a period in history when there was upheaval and change. Perhaps what makes these letters so special is that they are not terribly unique and that they represent the experiences of a whole generation of immigrants from Eastern Europe. Anti-Semitism and revolution led to violence and fear in the towns. Parents were faced with farewells to children they might never see again and families tried to anticipate new beginnings in a foreign and faraway country. And still young people met and fell in love.</p><p>Joan Sohn found her grandparents' 36 letters tucked away for 65 years in a small brown paper bag. When she read them her family's story came alive. Of course there were missing pieces--many of them; and so she began a long labor of love filling in the gaps.</p><p>Thanks to those letters and Sohn's determination we have that story--about people who left their homes for a new start and never returned. They reinvented themselves; they changed their citizenship their language their customs and even their names.</p><p><em>36 Letters</em> is about separation personal struggle and achievement. It's about people who landed at Ellis Island and made their way somehow to New York's Lower East Side and then to Philadelphia where they grew and multiplied and made remarkable contributions to the city's development. The letters are accompanied by more than 100 stunning photographs maps and illustrations.</p><p></p><p>Joan Sohn grew up in Philadelphia and still has strong family ties there but she has called Toronto her home for 35 years. Active in her community she is on the National Board of Canadian Friends of the Israel Museum. Sohn who received a degree in graphic design from Carnegie-Mellon University and studied at Ontario College of Art turns her art expertise into visual stories in <em>36 Letters</em>.</p><p></p>