The Jesuits in North America in the 17th Century


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(4.4 stars; 22 reviews)

Parkman has been hailed as one of America's first great historians and as a master of narrative history. Numerous translations have spread the books around the world. The American writer and literary critic Edmund Wilson (1895-1972) in his book "O Canada" (1965), described Parkman’s France and England in North America in these terms: "The clarity, the momentum and the color of the first volumes of Parkman’s narrative are among the most brilliant achievements of the writing of history as an art."

Parkman's biases, particularly his attitudes about nationality, race, and especially Native Americans, has generated criticism. The Canadian historian W. J. Eccles harshly criticized what he perceived as Parkman's bias against France and Roman Catholic policies, as well as what he considered Parkman's misuse of French language sources. However, Parkman's most severe detractor was the American historian Francis Jennings, an outspoken and controversial critic of the European colonization of North America, who went so far as to characterize Parkman's work as "fiction" and Parkman himself as a "liar".

Unlike Jennings and Eccles, many modern historians have found much to praise in Parkman's work even while recognizing his limitations. Calling Jennings' critique "vitriolic and unfair," the historian Robert S. Allen has said that Parkman's history of France and England in North America "remains a rich mixture of history and literature which few contemporary scholars can hope to emulate". The historian Michael N. McConnell, while acknowledging the historical errors and racial prejudice in Parkman's book The Conspiracy of Pontiac, has said: "...it would be easy to dismiss Pontiac as a curious perhaps embarrassing artifact of another time and place. Yet Parkman's work represents a pioneering effort; in several ways he anticipated the kind of frontier history now taken for granted.... Parkman's masterful and evocative use of language remains his most enduring and instructive legacy."

(Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Karen Merline)

Part 1: Pioneers of France in the New World
Part 2: The Jesuits in North America in the 17th Century
Part 4: The Old Régime in Canada
Part 5: Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV
Part 6: Montcalm and Wolfe
Part 7: A Half Century of Conflict (0 hr 0 min)

Chapters

Intro. pt 01: Native Tribes: Divisions 9:33 Read by David Lawrence
Intro. pt 02: The Hurons, 30:23 Read by CC
Intro. pt 03: The Huron-Iroquois Family, 15:16 Read by Sibella Denton
Intro. pt 04: The Iroquois, 20:35 Read by Sibella Denton
Intro. pt 05: Religion and Superstitions 56:29 Read by aratinga
Ch 01: 1634, Notre Dame des Anges; 9:20 Read by Mark Penfold
Ch 02: Loyola and the Jesuits 8:15 Read by Mark Penfold
Ch 03: 1632-1633, Paul le Jeune; 14:00 Read by Jacquerie
Ch 04: 1633-1634, le Jeune and the Hunters; 27:18 Read by Jacquerie
Ch 05: 1633-1634, The Huron Mission; 21:16 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 06: 1634-1635, Brebeuf and his Associates 15:11 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 07: 1636-1637, The Feast of the Dead; 14:10 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 08: 1636-1637, The Huron and the Jesuit 19:36 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 09: 1637, Character of the Canadian Jesuits 13:53 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 10: 1637-1640, Persecution 21:21 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 11: 1638-1640, Priest and Pagan 13:45 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 12: 1639-1640, The Tobacco Nation--the Neutrals 13:42 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 13: 1636-1646, Quebec and its Tenants; 3753 words 25:18 Read by Shirley Ellen
Ch 14: 1636-1652, Devotees and Nuns 27:03 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 15: 1637-1640, Persecution 29:50 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 16 pt 1: 1641-1644, Isaac Jogues 19:55 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 16 pt 2: 1641-1644, Isaac Jogues 19:08 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 17: 1641-1646, The Iroguois--Bressani--de Noue 27:04 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 18: 1642-1644, Villemarie 18:57 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 19: 1644-1645, Peace 27:10 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 20: 1645-1646, The Peace Broken 12:20 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 21: 1646-1647, Another War 15:22 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 22: 1645-1651, Priest and Puritan 25:05 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 23: 1645-1648, A Doomed Nation 17:08 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 24: 1645-1648, The Huron Church 15:29 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 25: 1648-1649, Sainte Marie 14:16 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 26: 1648, Antoine Daniel; 1141 words 7:02 Read by Mark Penfold
Ch 27: 1649, Ruin of the Hurons 12:45 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 28: 1649, The Martyrs 11:22 Read by Mark Penfold
Ch 29: 1649-1650, The Sanctuary 10:54 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 30: 1649, Garnier--Chabanel 9:19 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 31: 1650-1652, The Huron Mission Abandoned; 16:49 Read by davidb
Ch 32: 1650-1866, The Last of the Hurons 15:43 Read by davidb
Ch 33: 1650-1670, The Destroyers 13:33 Read by Sibella Denton
Ch 34: The End, 5:17 Read by David Lawrence

Reviews

EXCELLENT OVERVIEW OF THE PERIOD


(5 stars)

Parkman's detractors are shown to be empty vessels, not given to truth. He disarms one of them by his lavish praise of the efforts, bravery, and dedication of the Jesuits to their task. As a Protestant, he can never favor their ultimate success, but this idea never enters into the record. As to his alleged prejudice against native Americans, this work fails to support it. He repeatedly expresses regret at the total demise of the Huron nation (and of others), while the recording of the unbelievably cruel and inhumane acts of the Iroquois (and others) are reported almost entirely from eyewitness accounts which are not sensationalized, merely reported. It is excellent history by a fine historian!


(3.5 stars)

This is an excellent book. Although it is about the Jesuits' efforts to convert the Indians of the Northeast and Midwest, it is more a history of the demise of those tribes. It was not so much the appearance of the Europeans on the continent which lead to their destruction, although it was aided by the Dutch in providing the Iroquois with firearms, it was more due the the incredible savagery of the competing tribes. The description left me aghast.


(4 stars)

The history not taught in school, and the price some were willing to pay to bring the gospel to the new world.

Excellent


(5 stars)

Great text and history of the early Jesuit history. The readers did an excellent job.

good story


(3.5 stars)

good story, would have been better but for the inconsistency in narration.