A Great and Noble SchemeA Great and Noble Scheme
the Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians From Their American Homeland
Title rated 4.2 out of 5 stars, based on 11 ratings(11 ratings)
Book, 2005
Current format, Book, 2005, 1st ed, No Longer Available.Book, 2005
Current format, Book, 2005, 1st ed, No Longer Available. Offered in 0 more formatsDocuments the August 1755 forced relocation of some eighteen thousand neutral French residents from the Nova Scotia province by European imperialists and American colonists, an act that separated families and resulted in the deaths of thousands of Acadian residents. 15,000 first printing.
In 1755, New England troops embarked on a "great and noble scheme" to expel 18,000 French-speaking Acadians ("the neutral French") from Nova Scotia, killing thousands, separating innumerable families, and driving many into forests where they waged a desperate guerrilla resistance. The right of neutrality; to live in peace from the imperial wars waged between France and England; had been one of the founding values of Acadia; its settlers traded and intermarried freely with native Mìkmaq Indians and English Protestants alike. But the Acadians' refusal to swear unconditional allegiance to the British Crown in the mid-eighteenth century gave New Englanders, who had long coveted Nova Scotia's fertile farmland, pretense enough to launch a campaign of ethnic cleansing on a massive scale.
The British government and generations of historians have defended the 1755-85 expulsion of French settlers from Arcadia, now Nova Scotia, as necessary in the war against France, but Faragher (American history, Yale U.) wonders if it was actually an early example of ethnic cleansing. It matters, he says, because it is part of America's founding history. He looks at the evidence of the events and their impact. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
John Mack Faragher draws on original research to weave 150 years of history into a gripping narrative of both the civilization of Acadia and the British plot to destroy it.
In 1755, New England troops embarked on a "great and noble scheme" to expel 18,000 French-speaking Acadians ("the neutral French") from Nova Scotia, killing thousands, separating innumerable families, and driving many into forests where they waged a desperate guerrilla resistance. The right of neutrality; to live in peace from the imperial wars waged between France and England; had been one of the founding values of Acadia; its settlers traded and intermarried freely with native Mìkmaq Indians and English Protestants alike. But the Acadians' refusal to swear unconditional allegiance to the British Crown in the mid-eighteenth century gave New Englanders, who had long coveted Nova Scotia's fertile farmland, pretense enough to launch a campaign of ethnic cleansing on a massive scale.
The British government and generations of historians have defended the 1755-85 expulsion of French settlers from Arcadia, now Nova Scotia, as necessary in the war against France, but Faragher (American history, Yale U.) wonders if it was actually an early example of ethnic cleansing. It matters, he says, because it is part of America's founding history. He looks at the evidence of the events and their impact. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
John Mack Faragher draws on original research to weave 150 years of history into a gripping narrative of both the civilization of Acadia and the British plot to destroy it.
Title availability
About
Subject and genre
Details
Publication
- New York : W.W Norton & Co., c2005.
Opinion
More from the community
Community lists featuring this title
There are no community lists featuring this title
Community contributions
There are no quotations from this title
There are no quotations from this title
From the community