| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 91.1

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 91.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

The Cajuns: Americanization of a People. By Shane K. Bernard. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2003. xxiv, 196 pp. Cloth, $48.00, ISBN 1-57806-522-4. Paper, $18.00, ISBN 1-57806-523-2.)
In The Cajuns, Shane K. Bernard relates the story of how one of America's most distinctive ethnic groups, the Acadians, or Cajuns, of South Louisiana, made the transformation from a close-knit people retaining the strong cultural ties of their heritage to a group that has become assimilated into the mainstream of American society. Bernard maintains that for much of their history the Cajuns were looked down upon, derided as "backward, ignorant, and un-American" (p. xvii). They spoke a separate language and lived a life-style that emphasized isolation and separation from traditional American culture.	1
World War II changed that. Thousands of Cajuns served in the armed forces, and for the first time many were exposed to outside influences. Those influences were, of course, accelerated by such postwar developments as the introduction of television into typical homes and the creation of the Interstate highway system. In addition, young Cajuns found themselves strongly influenced by the advent of rock and roll music and other national cultural trends that led to a sharp reduction in traditional Cajun habits.	. . .

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