Book cover of Detroit's Hidden Channels: The Power of French-Indigenous Families in the Eighteenth Century

Book description

French-Indigenous families were a central force in shaping Detroit's history. Detroit's Hidden Channels examines the role of these kinship networks in Detroit's development as a site of singular political and economic importance in the continental interior.

Situated where Anishinaabe, Wendat, Myaamia, and later French communities were established and where the…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Detroit's Hidden Channels as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

If one were to travel in a time machine back to the early 1700s, to the French colony of Detroit, they’d arrive at a village inhabited by mixed French-indigenous families, where women were power-brokers and family ties were the basis for structuring business relationships. The village would be totally unrecognizable to those of us who have been taught to envision French colonial Detroit as a male-dominated outpost, where European soldiers and fur traders operated in the service of the Crown. Historian Karen Marrero digs deep into the archives to assemble an account that completely reorients our understandings of the cultural…

From Krysta's list on Detroit’s hidden histories.

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A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

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