The United States has a strange blind spot about its own foundations. A massive portion of the continent was once claimed, surveyed, mapped, named, and—crucially—routed by France. Forts went up. Trade corridors hardened into habit. Entire regions took their first civic shape inside French logistics and Catholic festival time. And yet the U.S. does not speak French the way Canada does. To feel the French language … Continue reading Crossroads of Empire