Mir Yarfitz takes on the notoriously challenging topic of Jewish prostitution in early twentieth-century Argentina and ably shows the international links and consistent tropes connecting the “white slave trade” to other migratory flows and concerns about race and purity. By tackling the issue with a consciously international focus, the author is able to show the ways that the patterns and concerns in Argentina were echoed worldwide. For Yarfitz, the fight against the “impure” irrevocably shaped the Jewish community in Buenos Aires.
One overarching issue facing any scholar writing about this topic is the lack of documentation. Yarfitz's use of League of Nations sources is an important new avenue for scholars, as investigators went undercover around the world to illuminate the migration and working conditions of prostitutes. The author also makes great use of contemporary newspaper sources in Argentina as well as the institutional records of both the organized underworld figures...
