Reborn in America : French exiles and refugees in the United States and the vine and olive adventure, 1815-1865 / Eric Saugera ; translated by Madeleine Velguth
Treason and terror -- A critical moment -- The "chief culprits" -- Political reaction in Gironde -- Across the Atlantic -- Maritime exodus -- A conflictual friendship -- Settling in America -- Alabama's exotic roots -- Grape harvests in America -- The new Thebaid -- A gift from Congress -- A family affair -- French lands in Alabama -- Routes to the South -- The promised land -- The French and the others -- A model colonist -- Choice of a world -- Rebirth in America -- Return to the homeland
Summary
The history of the Vine and Olive Colony in Demopolis, Alabama, has long been clouded by romantic myths. The notion that it was a doomed attempt by Napoleonic exiles in America to plant a wine- and olive-growing community in Alabama based on the ideals of the French Revolution, has long been bolstered by the images that have been proliferated in the popular imagination of French ladies (in Josephine-style gowns) and gentlemen (in officer's full dress uniforms) lounging in the breeze on the bluffs overlooking the Tombigbee River while sturdy French peasants plowed the rich soil of the Bla
Notes
Based on the author's thesis written in French in 2007, entitled: Renaître en América
