166 The Michigan Historical Review shapes these discussions. But a more critical look at how African Americans were systematically excluded from so many of the opportunities that arose from these musical dialogues is essential in understanding how the city’s changing culture could still reproduce old prejudices and hierarchies. Beth Fowler Wayne State University Guillaume Teasdale. Fruits of Perseverance: The French Presence in the Detroit River Region, 1701-1815. Montreal and Kingston, ON: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2018. Pp. 220. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Notes. Paper: $29.95. Teasdale’s book focuses on the occupation of French land in the Detroit River region. His objective is to explain “how a society similar to the rural settlements of the Saint Lawrence valley (land grants, land organization, legal system of the Custom of Paris used for land transactions, marriage contracts, and inheritances), developed in such an isolated place, and survived well beyond the fall of New France” (p. 4). To the residents of the Detroit River region, there was but one community with no ‘border to cross, [and] no duties to pay; instead, the area was but a single French community, whether on the north shore (Michigan) or south shore (Ontario), where agricultural communities were the main, and fur trade a secondary economic focus.” Demographically dispersed, the agrarian French populations sought the refuge of Fort Pontchartrain (subsequently, Fort Detroit), only when necessary. The French way of life persisted as the dominant residence form on the south side of the Detroit River (Canada) “well into the second half of the nineteenth century” (p. 3). The initial chapters provide an introduction to French culture in the St. Lawrence Valley and Detroit regions during the eighteenth century. Inspired by reading Jean-Baptiste Trudeau’s Voyage sur le Haut-Missouri 1794-1796, published in 2006, Teasdale “began to grasp the scope of the French imprint on North America [and] I knew I wanted to channel my interest in the history of French-speaking communities outside of Quebec into an academic career” (p. ix). Teasdale then began his PhD studies at York University in Toronto. He now is an assistant professor of history and director of the Detroit River Border Region Digital History Project at the University of Windsor. Book Reviews 167 I enjoyed reading about the early “land problems” and power struggles that began initially when Cadillac, who had founded Fort Pontchartrain on the Michigan (north) shore of the Detroit River on July 24, 1701, assumed certain “duties” that had not been authorized him by the King of France—including the power to issue land! Thereafter, land, and taxation, disputes throughout the Detroit River region continued until an agreement was made that defined Cadillac’s approved duties by Cadillac’s superiors. Ironically, following 1763 and the British takeover of Canada and the western Great Lakes region, land ownership and disputes rekindled, creating a new set of problems for the new political powers “controlling” the area. Teasdale’s book consists of seven chapters and a conclusion (Early Land Occupation; Seigneurial Tenure and Landholders; Trespassers, Aboriginal Deeds, and Taxation; Contested Public Property Right; Private Landowners; French Orchards; and Divided by the Border). In addition, the reader will find an additional forty-nine pages of “notes” and a bibliography section that reads like a who’s-who of the most significant New World French histories written. In short, Teasdale’s depth of understanding about his subject matter is a gift of major proportion to anyone studying eighteenth century French culture in the New World—not just in the Detroit River region—but throughout French colonial America. Kenneth C. Carstens Murray State University ...