A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from Their American Homeland

I bought this book after family members traveled to the region where the Acadians lived originally. The plight of these unfortunate people is known to most of us through Longfellow's Evangeline story. Otherwise we might see a paragraph in a history book but little else. The British did not just suddenly swoop down on the hapless Acadians and scatter their victims to the winds. This author first brings out the history of the various people who inhabited the region - the Native tribes, the French settlers and the British. Basically the Acadians were caught in the middle of a big struggle for power. They just wanted to be left alone. This geographical area was traded back and forth as the British and the French battled each other all over the globe. Surprisingly, at one point even the French wanted these people removed and I had never heard that. The French were suspicious of the Acadians for being too friendly with the English, who were suspicious of them for being too friendly with the Natives and the French. Religion was used as a pretext by both Powers to badger the Acadians, who used ambiguity and scheming just to survive. The British in particular were adamant that the Acadians swear allegiance to their king but the French made the same demands. This would include the "duty" of taking up arms against the enemies of whoever was in charge at the moment AND if the Acadians had done that they would have been attacked by the Natives, who also just wanted to be left alone. From the beginning these folks were doomed. Still, it is fascinating to read how they cleverly kept the outsiders at arm's length until the last moment before they were finally dispersed. Another point of interest is that the smarter and more fortunate of the Acadians could read the proverbial writing on the wall and left before the British could drag them away from their homes. This is a history of being caught in the middle, injustice, religious bigotry, betrayal and diabolical calculation for selfish reasons. It well demonstrates that some things remain the same.

Bought this as part of suggested reading list for a trip to Nova Scotia Canada. This "used book" was like new. Only very minor wear on a small section of the book jacket. The binding is perfect and the pages have no marks or sign of previous use. I'm glad I purchased this as it probably will not become part of my permanent library. Therefore, I didn't want to pay $40 for a new book. I am very satisfied with the vendor.

John Mack Faragher examines the colonization of Nova Scotia by French peasants in the seventeenth century and how their occupation of this strategically important peninsula eventually resulted in their forced expulsion by the British military -- an event that Faragher regards as an instance of "ethnic cleansing," if not outright genocide.Faragher delves deep into colonial archives to locate obscure source material that brings to life a people who were at best semi-literate. He does so by drawing on government correspondence (between colonial administrators and government officials in London and Paris), on the personal diaries of British soldiers, on the memoirs of French missionaries, and on letters written by the few literate Acadians, among other sources.More than previous writers, Faragher stresses the intimate relationship between the Acadians and the local Micmac Indians, with whom the Acadians intermarried much more frequently than thought originally.He also emphasizes the leading role played by New England "Yankees" in carrying out the expulsion, showing that the event was hardly a purely British operation.He traces the Acadians' repeated efforts to secure their New World homeland by swearing an conditional oath of allegiance to the British crown -- allegiance in exchange for wartime neutrality. To do otherwise, Faragher repeatedly notes, would have been for the Acadians to invite attack from the French military and their Indian allies . . . as did indeed happen at the village of Beaubassin, when Indians under French command burned the village in an event that mirrors the "burn-the-village-to-save-it" mentality of the Vietnam War (my comparison, not Faragher's).The book is heavily documented, complete with detailed endnotes and bibliography; and despite the academic trappings it reads like a swashbuckling novel.As a professional historian, I highly recommend this book to scholars and laypersons alike.

I am of Acadian french descent & this story was close to my heart! The old people in my family re-told our oral history with deep hatred of the English because of what was done to the peaceful French Acadians. My direct ancestors were fortunate to have been working in the fields. Men & women with thier children (including babies) They were warned by little boys sent out by the old folks in the houses & told "don't come back". They had only food for the day, the clothes on their backs & little else. They walked hundreds of miles down into the St John River valley, in the very northern part of what is now Maine. They nearly starved & had to kill their dogs to survive. The English were brutal in their treatment of these people who's crime was not wanting to take an oath & fight for the English. The book is well written. Amazon never disappoints me! Wezi in Maine

The book delves into the interconnected realm of Native people, French settlers in Acadie, and even those in New England. The events between England and France produced a very independent people, neither French nor English, and might explain much regarding our American 'Cajuns. I found a number of names linked to my father's family, and was amazed to discover the roles they played in the settlement of Acadie. At times the book jumps from one period to another, but a bit of back reading produces an explanation and logic behind the sudden movement to another subject/time. I would recommend this book to anyone researching Acadian ancestors or culture connected with the mid-17th to late 18th century period in this very different part of the New World.

Product in great shape and was as advertised.

An excellent book about the history of the very first ethnic cleansing and introducing Acadians to the world.

Faragher puts a great deal of factual detail into this work and you might think that the story would get bogged down. Not a bit of it. The Acadian deportation is a tragic tale that will never grow old, I dare say, and the factual history of the matter is as gripping as any fictional treatment. A people who just wanted to be left alone (more or less) were viewed with suspicion and also jealousy due to the quality of the country they lived in. They had very little power to bear on their fate and thus their stubborn refusal to pledge allegiance to Great Britain provided the pretext for one of the great injustices in North American history, along with the dispossession of aboriginal populations. This is a Canadian story and an American story. Read it, you'll be better for it.

This book is amazing. I'm Acadian and it's awesome to read about the actual accounts of ancestors and how things actually progressed through the years leading up to the deportation.Is so good I ordered a copy for my parents.

It is a well researched historical gem. The reality of the strategic planning that led to the deportation of Acadian settlers is narrated with an approach that goes beyond facts and events. The people involved are present throughout the reading as the ancient myths are dispelled and history is revealed as it occurred. As a person of Acadian heritage, I was reconciled with the past as paradigms shifted and the blame was exposed.

The clarity and detail of this work brings one to the same conclusion the author makes: the deportation of the Acadians was ethnic cleansing orchestrated by the New Englanders and British.