The Brides of la Baleine


Book Description

The story of 88 young girls and women who volunteered to leave France in 1720 and go to the Colony of Louisiana as brides for the soldiers and settlers who lived there.




French Immigrants and Pioneers in the Making of America


Book Description

Americans have long had a rich if complicated relationship with France. They adore all things French, especially food and fashion. They visit the country and learn the language. Historically, Americans have also been quick to blame France at certain times of international crisis, and find fault with their handling of domestic issues. Despite ups and downs, the friendship between the countries remains very strong. The author explains the strength of Franco-American relations lies in the diplomatic ties that extend back to the founding of the United States, but more importantly, in the French DNA that is imprinted on American culture. The French were the first Europeans to settle the regions now known as Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas--and Frenchman remained in Louisiana after the land was purchased by the United States. This book explores the effects that France has had on American culture, and why modern Americans of French descent are so fascinated by their ancestry.




Brides from Bridewell


Book Description

Brides from Bridewell is the story of the female felons from England and France who were sent to Colonial America to serve their prison sentences. It sets forth the harsh, often inhuman, penal conditions then prevailing in those lands, and the fact that these thousands of feminine felons constituted one of the primary marital elements in the mothering of early America. Many women whose offenses were minor were deported. Others were confessed criminals. The facts constitute one of the neglected (or hidden) retrospects to the American past. Descent from the Mayflower lineage is stressed by genealogists; but the fact is forgotten that many unknowing present-day Americans of colonial descent derive their American beginnings from female prisoners sent against their will. Says the author: "Many of the transported felons after their servitude had expired, became reputable dwellers in the new environment; and if not they, then their offspring. No stigma attaches to their descendants. But the tale needs telling."







New Orleans Vampires


Book Description

A New Orleans historian and vampire expert uncovers the historic origins of the Southern city’s vampire legends from colonial days to the Great Depression. New Orleans has a reputation as a home for creatures of the night. Popular books, movies and television shows have cemented the city's connection to vampires in the public imagination. But the stories of the Crescent City’s undead residents go much deeper than the tales of Sookie Stackhouse and The Vampire Lestat. In New Orleans Vampires, author Marita Woywod Crandle investigates the most haunting tales of vampirism in New Orleans history. In the early days of Louisiana's colonization, rumors swirled about the fate of the Casket Girls, a group of mysterious maidens traveling to the New World from France with peculiar casket-shaped boxes. The charismatic Comte St. Germain moved to the French Quarter in the early 1900s, eerily resembling a European aristocrat of one hundred years prior bearing the same name. In the 1930s, the Carter brothers terrorized the town with their desire to feed on living human blood. Strange but true tales mix with immortal legends in this fascinating volume.




Buying a Bride


Book Description

There have always been mail-order brides in America. In this book Zug starts with the so-called "Tobacco Wives" of the Jamestown colony and moves forward to today's modern same-sex mail-order grooms to explore the advantages and disadvantages of mail-order marriage. It's a history of deception, physical abuse, and failed unions. It's also the story of how mail-order marriage can offer women surprising and empowering opportunities.




Mutinous Women


Book Description

The secret history of the rebellious Frenchwomen who were exiled to colonial Louisiana and found power in the Mississippi Valley In 1719, a ship named La Mutine (the mutinous woman), sailed from the French port of Le Havre, bound for the Mississippi. It was loaded with urgently needed goods for the fledgling French colony, but its principal commodity was a new kind of export: women. Falsely accused of sex crimes, these women were prisoners, shackled in the ship’s hold. Of the 132 women who were sent this way, only 62 survived. But these women carved out a place for themselves in the colonies that would have been impossible in France, making advantageous marriages and accumulating property. Many were instrumental in the building of New Orleans and in settling Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, and Mississippi. Drawing on an impressive range of sources to restore the voices of these women to the historical record, Mutinous Women introduces us to the Gulf South’s Founding Mothers.




The Autobiography and Other Writings


Book Description

Benjamin Franklin’s account of his rise from poverty and obscurity to affluence and fame has charmed every generation of readers since it first appeared. Begun as a collection of anecdotes for his son, the memoir grew into a history of his remarkable achievements in the literary, scientific, and political realms. A printer, inventor, scientist, diplomat, and statesman, Franklin was also a brilliant writer whose wit and wisdom shine on every page. His Autobiography has deservedly become the most widely read American autobiography of all time—the self-portrait of a quintessential American. Franklin was a remarkably prolific writer, and is equally beloved for his humorous, philosophical, parodic, and satirical writings, parables, and maxims, which he published under an astonishing number of pen names, including Poor Richard, the Busy-Body, and Silence Dogood. This hardcover edition of The Autobiography and Other Writings contains a varied selection of these, including “The Kite Experiment,” “A Parable Against Persecution,” “Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind,” “Rules for Making Oneself a Disagreeable Companion,” and “The Way to Wealth.”




The Cod Fishery of Isle Royale, 1713-58


Book Description

This paper examines the Isle Royale Fishery, analyses itseconomic importance, its methodology, the personnel involved, andits impact on society.




Colour-Coded


Book Description

Historically Canadians have considered themselves to be more or less free of racial prejudice. Although this conception has been challenged in recent years, it has not been completely dispelled. In Colour-Coded, Constance Backhouse illustrates the tenacious hold that white supremacy had on our legal system in the first half of this century, and underscores the damaging legacy of inequality that continues today. Backhouse presents detailed narratives of six court cases, each giving evidence of blatant racism created and enforced through law. The cases focus on Aboriginal, Inuit, Chinese-Canadian, and African-Canadian individuals, taking us from the criminal prosecution of traditional Aboriginal dance to the trial of members of the 'Ku Klux Klan of Kanada.' From thousands of possibilities, Backhouse has selected studies that constitute central moments in the legal history of race in Canada. Her selection also considers a wide range of legal forums, including administrative rulings by municipal councils, criminal trials before police magistrates, and criminal and civil cases heard by the highest courts in the provinces and by the Supreme Court of Canada. The extensive and detailed documentation presented here leaves no doubt that the Canadian legal system played a dominant role in creating and preserving racial discrimination. A central message of this book is that racism is deeply embedded in Canadian history despite Canada's reputation as a raceless society. Winner of the Joseph Brant Award, presented by the Ontario Historical Society