LOOT, Britain and the Benin Bronzes

371pp., b/w & colour illus., maps, hardback, d.w., London, 2021

"In 1897, Britain sent a punitive expedition to the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now Nigeria, in retaliation for the killing of seven British officials and traders. British soldiers and sailors captured Benin, exiled its king, and annexed the territory. They also made off with some of Africa's greatest works of art." from the inside front cover

"This timely, thoughtful and beautifully crafted volume deftly guides us thorough a truly astounding passage of events. These are the kind of histories that change the way we look at things we thought we knew - whilst shocking us at the things that we simply hadn't grasped." Gus Casely-Hayford, Director of V&A Wast and former Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

"Reading Barnaby Phillips’s Loot is like walking a sniffing dog through the minds, homes, and storerooms of government agents, military adventurers, museums, art dealers, and collectors … Brilliant and evidenced-based." Dr Uyilawa Usuanlele, Associate Professor of African History, State University of New York

Former journalist Barnaby Phillips reported for the BBC from Mozambique, Angola, Nigeria and South Africa. He is the author of Another Man’s War: The story of a Burma Boy in Britain’s forgotten African army. He grew up in Kenya and Switzerland and now lives in London where he works for an elephant conservation organisation.