Frog Town

Portrait of a French Canadian Parish in New England

By (author) Laurence Armand French

Publication date:

08 July 2014

Length of book:

294 pages

Publisher

UPA

ISBN-13: 9780761863830

Frog Town describes in detail a French Canadian parish that was unique due to the high density of both Acadian and Quebecois settlers that were situated in a Yankee stronghold of Puritan stock. This demography provided for a volatile history that accentuated the inter-ethnic/sectarian conflicts of the time.

In this book, Laurence Armand French discusses the work, language, and social activities of the working-class French Canadians during the changing times that transformed them from French Canadians to Franco Americans. French also articulates the current double-standard of justice within New Hampshire with details of actual cases, presented alongside their circumstances and judicial outcomes, to offer a thorough depiction of the community of Frog Town.

Preface
Chapter One: A Geo-Political Historical Framework
Introduction: Understanding Human and Group Behaviors
The Function of Creation Myths: Giving Meaning to Life and Belonging
Catholicism, Protestantism, and Capitalism
Colonial Wars in North America: The British/French-Protestant/Catholic Rift
Chapter Two: Manifest Destiny and Empire Building in the Americas: A History Different
The Politics of WASP Superiority and the Road to Race and Ethnic Intolerance
The French and Indian War and the Emerging Military Aristocracy and Local Heroes
The Acadian Expulsion: The Prototype of Ethnic Cleansing and Cultural Genocide
“We the (Chosen) People (Enfranchised, White Protestant Adult Males) of the United States….”
Manifest Destiny and Indian Removal: The U.S. Policies of Cultural and Physical Genocide
“Might Makes Right”: The Means of U.S. Expansionism and Imperialism
Chapter Three: French-Canadians in Yankee-Land: A Workforce for an Emerging Industrial Giant Comes Into Its Own as Franco Americans
Puritan Capitalism and Yankee Mills: An Auspicious Beginning
The Canada Connection: The Symbiosis of Economic Conditions and a Cheap and Convenient Labor Source
Chapter Four: Frog Town: Life and Times of a Franco American Community
The Historic Landscape and Demographics of New Hampshire and the Region
Suncook Valley—The Early Years
Frog Town: St. Jean the Baptist Parish—Suncook, N.H., 1870s–1930s
Frog Town—1930 to 1980: Fifty Years of Turmoil and Change
The Second World War and the Transformation of Suncook
The Social Milieu in Post-WWII Frog Town
Chapter Five: “And Justice for Some”
America’s Criminal Justice Ideals and Adaptations
Selective Justice Issues
Policing Society: From Community Policing to a Militarized Force
A Sampler of Justice in New Hampshire
Blood Politics
Church, State, and Abuse
Epilogue
Post NAFTA Changes in U.S.-Canada Relations
Celebrating Franco American Heritage in New Hampshire
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Frog Town is an original and informative work. It combines personal experience and family history with sociology, anthropology, legal history, and social history. The work is unique in this area in that it treats the Franco-American experience and history from the perspectives of both the Francophone and the Anglophone populations. Ranging historically from the early French and British settlements of North America to present Franco-American culture and recent legal cases in New Hampshire Frog Town gives a comprehensive and synthetic overview of the topic.