French in the Heart of America, The

"Dr. Finley's book is a tribute, and a tribute passionate and earnest, to France. The heart of America to which he puts his ear is not the Mississippi Valley, but the actual pulsing organ which is the seat of our national life today."--New York Times, 1915An examination of the French legacy in the United States, this compendium explores the multifarious ways in which the French influenced the American landscape and identity between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. Comprised primarily of a series of lectures the author delivered during a speaking circuit throughout France at the start of the twentieth century, the work honors the French explorers and settlers who made their lasting imprint on the inner waterways of America, down the St. Lawrence through the Mississippi River Valley to the Gulf of Mexico.Author John Finley suggests that the early French adventurers--Cartier, Champlain, and La Salle--imbued America with her sense of democracy, even more so than did the English settlers. An examination of the important French contributions to the culture of the United States, including place names, language, and governmental structures, deepens Finley's erudite homage to the French influence in America.