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The Cajuns: A People's Story of Exile and Triumph
** Revised & updated edition coming in Fall 2022 from Nimbus Publishing **
This is the story of one of the great crimes of history, a brutal act of genocide committed two and a half centuries ago.More than 10,000 men, women and children were removed from their homeland at gunpoint and sent into exile. They were stripped of the farms that had nurtured and sustained their families for four generations. Their homes and most of their possessions were destroyed. Five thousand of these unfortunate people, maybe more, died of disease and deprivation or perished in shipwrecks...
The deportation was a deliberate attempt to destroy a people and wipe out a distinct culture. It failed. The Acadians were too tough and too resilient. Today, there are an estimated 3 million Acadian descendants worldwide... Thousands of deportees made their way to Louisiana, where "Acadian" was transmuted to "Cajun," and the new surroundings forged a distinct culture although true to its northern roots. More than half-a-million Americans, most of them in Louisiana and eastern Texas, are descendants of those refugees...
The people survived against incredible odds. They preserved a vibrant culture, a zest for life, and a deep respect for their heritage. This is a story of the triumph of the human spirit in the face of cruelty and unimaginable hardship.
This is the story of one of the great crimes of history, a brutal act of genocide committed two and a half centuries ago.More than 10,000 men, women and children were removed from their homeland at gunpoint and sent into exile. They were stripped of the farms that had nurtured and sustained their families for four generations. Their homes and most of their possessions were destroyed. Five thousand of these unfortunate people, maybe more, died of disease and deprivation or perished in shipwrecks...
The deportation was a deliberate attempt to destroy a people and wipe out a distinct culture. It failed. The Acadians were too tough and too resilient. Today, there are an estimated 3 million Acadian descendants worldwide... Thousands of deportees made their way to Louisiana, where "Acadian" was transmuted to "Cajun," and the new surroundings forged a distinct culture although true to its northern roots. More than half-a-million Americans, most of them in Louisiana and eastern Texas, are descendants of those refugees...
The people survived against incredible odds. They preserved a vibrant culture, a zest for life, and a deep respect for their heritage. This is a story of the triumph of the human spirit in the face of cruelty and unimaginable hardship.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
272 pages, Hardcover
First published April 18, 2005
6 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
About the author
Dean Jobb
33 books244 followers"Jobb's true crime stories are not to be missed" – CrimeReads
I specialize in true crime and I'm drawn to overlooked or forgotten stories. My new book, A Gentleman and a Thief, coming in June 2024, tells the incredible story of Arthur Barry, one of the world’s most successful jewel thieves, who charmed the elite of 1920s New York, brazenly swiped gems worth millions of dollars from their posh country estates, and outfoxed the police and private detectives on his trail.
My previous books include The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream , winner of the inaugural CrimeCon CLUE Award for Best True Crime Book of 2021 and longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. It recreates Scotland Yard's hunt for a Victorian Era serial killer who murdered at least ten people in Britain, the U.S. and Canada. Empire of Deception, the rollicking tale of Chicago con man Leo Koretz and his amazing 1920s oil swindle, was the Chicago Writers Association's Nonfiction Book of the Year. Esquire proclaimed it one of the best biographies of all time.
I'm also the author of The Acadian Saga: A People's Story of Exile and Triumph , which chronicles the expulsion of French-speaking Acadians from Eastern Canada more than two centuries ago and the founding of Louisiana’s Cajun culture.
My books have won the Crime Writers of Canada Award for best true crime book and I have been a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize, Canada's top award for nonfiction.
My true crime column "Stranger Than Fiction" appears in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and I write book reviews and features for The Irish Times, CrimeReads, the Washington Independent Review of Books and other major publications. I'm a professor at the University of King’s College in Halifax and teach in the King's MFA in Creative Nonfiction program.
I specialize in true crime and I'm drawn to overlooked or forgotten stories. My new book, A Gentleman and a Thief, coming in June 2024, tells the incredible story of Arthur Barry, one of the world’s most successful jewel thieves, who charmed the elite of 1920s New York, brazenly swiped gems worth millions of dollars from their posh country estates, and outfoxed the police and private detectives on his trail.
My previous books include The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream , winner of the inaugural CrimeCon CLUE Award for Best True Crime Book of 2021 and longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. It recreates Scotland Yard's hunt for a Victorian Era serial killer who murdered at least ten people in Britain, the U.S. and Canada. Empire of Deception, the rollicking tale of Chicago con man Leo Koretz and his amazing 1920s oil swindle, was the Chicago Writers Association's Nonfiction Book of the Year. Esquire proclaimed it one of the best biographies of all time.
I'm also the author of The Acadian Saga: A People's Story of Exile and Triumph , which chronicles the expulsion of French-speaking Acadians from Eastern Canada more than two centuries ago and the founding of Louisiana’s Cajun culture.
My books have won the Crime Writers of Canada Award for best true crime book and I have been a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize, Canada's top award for nonfiction.
My true crime column "Stranger Than Fiction" appears in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and I write book reviews and features for The Irish Times, CrimeReads, the Washington Independent Review of Books and other major publications. I'm a professor at the University of King’s College in Halifax and teach in the King's MFA in Creative Nonfiction program.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 23, 2021
This is a historical account of the brutal exiling of the Acadian people of early Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island by the British in 1755. The horrors which these gentle farmers who were some of Canada’s first citizens went through was nothing less than genocide orchestrated by English overlords.
They displaced the Acadians to different locations across the globe, yet today still hold the same language and traditions and even gather to celebrate their ethnicity and resilience.
One issue I had with this telling was there was not enough emphasis on the role of the French government, the Catholic priests and a group of hotheads that forced the British hand in this displacement.
They displaced the Acadians to different locations across the globe, yet today still hold the same language and traditions and even gather to celebrate their ethnicity and resilience.
One issue I had with this telling was there was not enough emphasis on the role of the French government, the Catholic priests and a group of hotheads that forced the British hand in this displacement.
January 3, 2015
I would have liked this more if the bias and sensationalism had been less: la grande derangement is an example of a disapora/genocide (and where that line blurs) and doesn't need "hyping". It's one of the problems I have with non-fiction - it should be dispassionate (unless the reporter is closely linked with the events) and there are more and more cases of it not being so.
June 30, 2017
Engaging, dramatic prose interspersed with real life accounts of everyday heroes and villains, a must read for anyone discovering their Acadian roots. At some point, you may even cry at the pain experienced by this people and so little known.
May 22, 2018
I knew a little bit about the deportations of the Acadians but I had a lot of questions. This book answered those questions and so much more. It is a fascinating, comprehensive account of this sad event.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews