Voyages: A Maine Franco-American Reader

by Nelson Madore (Editor), Barry Rodrigue (Editor)

They explore subjects as diverse as Quebec-Maine frontier history, immigrant drama, work, genealogy, discrimination, women, community affairs, religion, archeology, politics, literature, language, and humor. The voices, themselves, are equally diverse, including Norman Beaupré, Michael Michaud, Ross and Judy Paradis, Susann Pelletier, John Martin, Béatrice Craig, Michael Parent, Linda Pervier, Alaric Faulkner, Ray Levasseur, Yves Frenette, Paul Paré, Yvon Labbé, Rev. Clement Thibodeau, Bob Chenard, Denis Ledoux, Josée Vachon, Greg Chabot, Jean-Paul Poulain, Stewart Doty, Rhea Côté Robbins, and many others. This is a rich resource and an engaging read, one that will resonate with many.

656 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 2007

Reviews

[Rhea]

I have material in this anthology.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should probably go ahead and give this my rating and set it aside, as I'm not going to just sit down and finish it. It's a reader, after all, so there are lots of essays, some more interesting than others. Nice book to keep on the coffee table or by the bed, just to read an essay now and again. There are some old memory essays about growing up in Franco-American households, there are recipes, there are town histories concentrating on the experiences of Franco-Americans, there are military essays about wartime Maine during the Revolution, etc. Some of the them are a little poorly written, but some are very engaging and scholarly. This is a book with a pretty specific audience too; you are only going to find it interesting if you are interested in the history of Franco-Americans in New England. So if you are, I recommend it.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cross-disciplinary anthology, edited by the director of Franco-American studies at the U of Maine, Lewiston/Auburn. Varied in quality and content but a good composite snapshot of Maine Franco culture. A regional update of Claire Quintal's now 10-year old "Steeples and Smokestacks."

[Dwayne]

A very nice treatise (a la Foxfire) of the Franco-American experience in Maine and surrounding regions. This book made a great gift for relatives who grew up in Aroostook County and a great primer for those of us that visited the region, but had very little history to draw upon.