Robert Foxcurran

This book examines the role of "les Canadiens" -- French immigrants to the new world -- and Metis people in settling North America, especially the American Northwest. Co-written by one American and two Canadian academics, it shows how French and Metis people played a large role in opening up the western part of North America, and how their role and contributions have been largely written out of history -- even more so in the U.S. than in Canada. Extensively researched and I learned a lot.

Two things. First, this is an academic work. Written by someone like Walter Isaacson or Charlotte Gray, it would have been well researched but written in a more "story line' style. I'm very glad to have learned everything I did from this book, and it was never a slog to read, but it was a bit dry for those more used to popular biographies and/or histories.

Second, the relationship between les Canadiens and the First Nations was different from the relationship between first people and the British. The French not only married Indian women regularly...and not temporarily...but seemed comfortable living in both cultures. Children spoke their aboriginal language and French. They often moved between their mother's home village and Nouvelle France (i.e., Montreal) with relative ease. It made me wonder what Canada would have been like had France retained the "territory" rather than the British.… (meer)