In the fiery political debates in and about Italy, silence reigns about the country’s colonial legacy. By reducing European colonial history to Britain and France, Italy has effectively concealed an enduring phenomenon in its history that lasted close to 80 years (1882 to 1960). It also blots out the history of the countries it colonized in Northeastern Africa.

Italian colonial history began in 1882 with the acquisition of Assab Bay and came to a formal end only on July 1, 1960 when the Italian flag was lowered in Mogadishu, Somalia. It began well before Mussolini’s rise to power and lasted for many years thereafter. It involved both the Kingdom of Italy in the liberal period and the Republic of Italy after World War II.

Francesco Filippi challenges the myth of Italians being “nice people” or “good” colonialists who simply built roads for Africans. Despite extensive historiography, the collective awareness of the nations conquered and the violence inflicted on them remains superficial, be it in Italy or internationally. He retraces Italy’s colonial history, focusing on how propaganda, literature and popular culture have warped our understanding of the past and thereby hampered our ability to deal with the present.

As in his previous No. 1 Italian bestseller Mussolini Also Did A Lot of Good, Filippi pits historical facts against tenacious popular myths about Italy and Italy’s colonial history.

With a Foreword by Robin Philpot, publisher of Baraka Books.

The original Italian title is Noi però gli abbiamo fatto le strade, Le colonie italiane tra bugie, razzismi et amnesie. © 2021 Bollati Boringhieri editore, Torino

Francesco Filippi is a historian of mentalities and an educator who has specialized in the relationship between memory and the present. He is co-founder of Deina, an association that organises trips of memory and training courses all over Italy. Filippi is the author of five books including the Italian bestseller Mussolini Also Did A Lot of Good (Baraka Books 2021). He lives in Trento, Italy.

Domenic Cusmano is a Montreal communications professional, photojournalist, and translator whose previous translations include books from Italian and French into English. Publisher and editor of Accenti Magazine, he holds degrees from the Université de Montréal and McGill University. His work as a photojournalist has taken him throughout Europe, Africa, and South America.

Reviews

“Francesco Filippi returns to confront the history of mentality and with one of the most tragic and least known themes of Italy’s recent past. And he does it with his usual style at the same time documented and ironic, relying on a large amount of research re-interpreted in the light of some brilliant personal insights. In this way the author retraces the short parable of Italian colonialism.” L’indicie dei libri del mese

“Filippi points out brilliantly that the roots of a false consciousness grow out of a widespread stereotype of the Italians as ‘good people.’ (…) his book warns us against ‘prejudice’ from believing we know when we don’t know…” Giovanni de Luna, La Stampa

About Mussolini Also Did A Lot of Good

“We are indebted to Mr. Filippi for his skilled passion in establishing a proper analysis for those who seek to counter the supporters of Mussolini’s tyrannical reign.” Truby Chiaviello, Primo Magazine

“Chapter by chapter, point by point, Filippi dislodges propaganda with fact, answers mirage with astringent sunlight, and dispels nostalgia with body-counts.” George Elliott Clarke

“an antidote to all the nonsense still circulating about fascism…. Filippi is almost surgical in the way he reestablishes the context.” La Repubblica Book of the Month

“In the existing climate, Francesco Filippi’s scalpel is of utmost importance” Le Monde

“Francesco Filippi’s book is very timely and relevant … a lesson on a past that simply doesn’t go away.” Corriere Della Sera

This work has been translated with the contribution of the Centre for Books and Reading of the Italian Ministry of Culture.

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Wendake, Odanak, Wôlinak, Pointe-du-Lac, Kahnawake, Kanesatake, Akwesasne, Kitigan Zibi are communities located all along the St. Lawrence River valley and its tributaries and are known as the Seven Nations of Canada. They have been home to descendants of the Huron-Wendat, Algonquin, Nipissing, and Iroquois nations. These First Nations have in common the fact that their ancestors were allies of the French and had converted to Christianity.

Historians have ignored these nations described as “domiciled Indians” (“sauvages domiciliés”) by the French administrators. Jean-Pierre Sawaya carefully studied how an alliance of such diverse “missions” was created, developed and conducted to become The Seven Nations of Canada.

How did this confederation come about? Who took part and what were their roles? The answers are mined in the massive colonial archives. Seven Fires is original research at its best, combining detailed analysis and systematic investigation, that has enabled the author to dispel the tenacious colonial myth about irrational, submissive, and fatalistic Indigenous peoples. Readers will discover forward-looking people motivated by a deep desire for independence and solidarity.

Jean-Pierre Sawaya holds a PhD in History from Université Laval. As a History and Heritage Consultant, he is particularly interested in the political history and diplomatic traditions of the Indigenous peoples of Québec. His other books include Droits et pièges d’un heritage colonial au Québec with Denys Delâge. He is now working on the history of the RCMP with Indigenous people. He lives in Quebec City.

Katherine Hastings has worked as a Quebec-based translator and copyeditor since 1995. She has translated or co-translated three novels. She has also translated history books including Montreal and the Bomb by Gilles Sabourin and The Plains of Abraham, Battlefield 1759-1760. She lives near Quebec City.

Patricia Culliford is an Anishinabe member of the Seven Nations Confederacy. She is a historical researcher whose focus is on the uses of wampum belts in Indigenous/settler relations. She has reached out to Baraka Books to request this translation in order to fulfill a promise made to Chief Mike Thomas.

Reviews

“This is a very interesting and wonderfully researched historical monograph. The translation is also very well undertaken, conveying the original French meanings and representations well. It is a historical work that details the origins, processes, rituals, language, and processes of the Seven Nations. I would highly recommend that students and academics, as well as anyone interested in Indigenous confederacies, diplomacy, rituals, language of diplomacy, and early relationships read this work.” Karl Hele, ANISHINABEK NEWS, Jan. 2024

“Sawaya has helped preserve and communicate this almost lost and certainly discounted history of the St. Lawrence Valley peoples that underlies the whole story of Eastern North America.” Sandra Stock, Quebec Heritage News, Feb. 2024

“The author’s rigorous analysis, knowledge of Indigenous political culture combined with a sensitivity about sources enabled him to bring out the implicit information and contextualize the content of the historical documents. The book contributes above all to uncovering the history the often-overlooked Federation of the Seven Nations.” Sylvie Savoie, The Canadian Historical Review

“[A] solid and convincing history … After a long dormant period, historians have rediscovered the Federation of the Seven Nations of the St. Lawrence Valley. Jean-Pierre Sawaya’s study fits into a new and dynamic historiography. … he took on a complex job and carried it out brilliantly.” Christian Ruel, Recherches amérindiennes au Québec.

“Sawaya has mined official reports for information on the election of chiefs, the ceremonies at council sessions, and the significance of kinship terminology in speeches.” John A. Dickinson, American Historical Review

“A well-documented book that keeps the reader’s attention for three hours. Sawaya’s writing is efficient, well structured, and fully supported by archival sources.” Normand Clermont, Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française.

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Bloody Sunday (1972) catapulted the Irish “troubles” onto the world stage, exacerbating suspicion in US intelligence circles that the IRA might turn to the Soviets for guns. South Boston native Raymond Daly, just off a CIA stint in Laos, is sent to Ireland to re-establish a line running guns to the IRA. He deftly earns the trust of gunrunner Slowey, a tough money-making South Boston native, who introduces him to an IRA splinter group operating near Blacklion, a town bordering on Northern Ireland.

Ray begins to manipulate Aoife, an Irish woman, in order to gain the trust of the community and embed himself in the organization. After the British Special Air Services raid a safehouse, Ray finds himself involved in executing an informant and his wife. But he also finds himself getting soft on some of those he was sent to infiltrate and becoming more like his cover, “an Irish American gunrunner with a romantic attachment to the Cause,” and less like an obedient CIA operative.

Events spiral, culminating in a shootout with the British army that compels Ray to make a Faustian decision on his future and that of Aoife and the others he was assigned to manipulate.

Luke Francis Beirne was born in Ireland and grew up in Western Canada. His first novel Foxhunt (2022) was compared to an early Le Carré thriller and is a finalist for the 2022 Foreword Indies General Fiction Award. Ghostwriter of more than a dozen genre novels, he has contributed to many publications such as Honest Ulsterman, Hamilton Arts & Letters, and Strange Horizons, including the award-winning story “Models.” Luke holds a Master’s in Cultural Studies & Critical Theory from McMaster University. Blacklion is his second novel. He lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Reviews and Praise

“Mr. Beirne’s writing is good, really good…I used to read a lot of Frederick Forsyth, and Blacklion very much recalls the type of story Mr. Forsyth would spin. Recommended, along with Foxhunt.” James Fisher, The Miramichi Reader

“Highly atmospheric… very cinematic…” Colleen Kitts-Goguen, CBC

“Luke Francis Beirne’s fury novel Foxhunt was a beautifully written slow burn of a literary intrigue novel, and his second novel Blacklion is just as intensely readable.“ All Lit Up

“The strength of Beirne’s writing lies in a … believable portrayal of basic human emotions: trust/distrust, love/hate, violence/the longing for a normal life … Beirne achieves a certain Hemingway quality for his protagonist and associates… a fine effort in a genre where the bar has been set extremely high by le Carre, Greene, Deighton, and others.” Ian Thomas Shaw, The Ottawa Review of Books

About Foxhunt

“[Foxhunt is] a cold-war thriller rather like early le Carré. … eerily pertinent given recent news …” Simon Lavery, Tredynas Days

“[A] brilliant young writer.” David Adams Richards

“With its beautifully lyrical prose, Foxhunt is an alchemic mix of realpolitik and shadowy noir.” Mark Anthony Jarman

“Foxhunt is wonderfully written and, as already mentioned, is a slow-to-medium-paced read. Hence, it is the type of novel I enjoy reading. Foxhunt is also a very cerebral and well-placed story within the historical context of the beginnings of the Cold War. I highly recommend Foxhunt as a noir-ish literary mystery-intrigue novel.” James Fisher, The Miramichi Reader

“Against a seamless historical and literary backdrop, Foxhunt balances compelling intrigue with vulnerable human emotions.” Meg Nola, Foreword Reviews (March-April 2022)