About my most recent book
Teche: A History of Louisiana's Most Famous Bayou


Shane K. Bernard is a historian and the author of five books:

Teche: A History of Louisiana's Most Famous Bayou (2016, chosen as a Book of the Year for 2017 by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities)

Cajuns and Their Acadian Ancestors: A Young Reader's History (original English edition, 2008; French translation issued in 2013 as Les Cadiens et leurs ancĂȘtres acadiens: l'histoire racontĂ©e aux jeunes)


Tabasco: An Illustrated History (2007)


The Cajuns: Americanization of a People (2003)


Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues (1996)


Bernard holds degrees in English and History from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and earned a Ph.D. in History from Texas A&M University.

He serves as historian and curator to McIlhenny Company — maker of Tabasco brand products since 1868 — and Avery Island, Inc., on Avery Island, Louisiana.


Bernard has been interviewed about south Louisiana history and culture by numerous media outlets, including the BBC, CNN, NPR, The History Channel, the New York Times, and the National Geographic Society.


In 2015 he was chosen as a Research Fellow at UL's Center for Louisiana Studies.

Bernard is married, has two children, and resides in New Iberia, Louisiana, near the celebrated Bayou Teche.


• Listen to NPR's Morning Edition interview Bernard about his book The Cajuns: Americanization of a People.

• Listen to NPR's Morning Edition interview Bernard about his research into the history of Tabasco sauce.


Banner image based on "Sugar Plantation on the Bayou Teche, Louisiana," Harper's (1866).


Copyright © 2021 by Shane K. Bernard.  All rights reserved.