(October 10, 2015 at 6:47 pm)TheRocketSurgeon Wrote: If you have not read them, and you'd like to know more about our history and culture, I recommend the following three books, in order of recommendation:
The Founding of New Acadia: The Beginnings of Acadian Life in Louisiana, 1765-1803 by Carl A. Brasseaux (which, despite the title, also contains the origins in l'Acadie.)
A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from Their American Homeland by John Mack Faragher
The Cajuns: Americanization of a People by Shane K. Bernard
(As a bonus book, if you want something more cultural and more fun, try Gumbo Ya-ya: Folk Tales of Louisiana, edited by Saxon, Dreyer, and Tallant. "Ya-ya", or "aya", comes from an Afro-Caribbean word for rice, and forms the second half of the word Jambalaya, jambon + a la + aya, or roughly "ham-and-rice".)
Thank You!!! I will look for these as soon as I can.
And while I've tried Jambalaya, I never knew the etymology of the word, so thanks for that, too!!
