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1 March 2027. PRE-ORDER NOW

“We have no history of colonialism,” declared Canada’s prime minister at the 2009 Pittsburg G20 meeting.

A glance at place names and monuments in the country proves the claim baseless. A different story emerges featuring imperial conquerors, merciless military officers, and hateful colonial administrators sent worldwide—including Canada—to expand the British empire, establish colonies, conquer new lands, suppress resistance, and assert racial superiority.

From Jeffery Amherst to Lord Elgin, Herbert Kitchener, Horatio Nelson to James Wolfe and Garnet Wolseley, and many more, Pillars of Plunder reveals uncomfortable truths about the people Canada honours across the country.

Facing challenges to its sovereignty, Canada has a real interest in reconsidering how its public memory is defined and who will symbolize it in the future.

Robin Philpot is a writer and translator and is publisher of Baraka Books. A graduate of the University of Toronto, he has authored or co-authored books in French and English, including Rwanda and the New Scramble for Africa and A People’s History of Quebec (with Jacques Lacoursière).  He settled in Montreal after living and teaching in Burkina Faso.

Reviews and Praise

“Pillars of Plunder demystifies the complex ways in which power, history, memory, and honour become embedded in the names we inherit. It examines how individuals and institutions associated with slavery, colonialism, imperialism, dispossession, and exploitation have been commemorated—and how those acts of naming can transform contested histories into seemingly unquestionable public memory. When we ask ‘What’s in a name?’ we may discover an entire history of power hiding in plain sight.” Fred Anderson, author of Eyes Have Seen, From Mississippi to Montreal.

About Philpot’s Earlier Work

“Essential reading.” Edward S. Herman, co-author of Manufacturing Dissent

“The author makes strong, compelling cases.” Foreword Reviews

“Explosive, very daring and solidly defended.” Le Devoir, Montreal

“There’s also in Philpot an element of Michael Moore’s cleverness.” Paul Wells, Maclean’s