High Upon His Pedestal: Sir Isaac Brock’s Enduring Popularity

High Upon His Pedestal blends military, political, and social history to explore Sir Isaac Brock’s enduring popularity in Canada.

Major General Isaac Brock won a stunning victory at Detroit at the outset of the War of 1812 and was recognized as the Hero of Upper Canada. With his untimely death leading a heroic, ill-fated charge during the Battle of Queenston Heights, Brock’s fame became firmly entrenched in the Canadian psyche.

In High Upon His Pedestal Guy St-Denis examines the reality of Bock’s military efforts and the origins and evolutions of his heroic legacy. St-Denis provides a detailed analysis of the mythmaking process, from the outpouring of grief that followed Brock’s death to the efforts of Stephen Harper’s government to commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812. He shows how Brock was used to support the militia myth of a society defended by civilian soldiery at the expense of British regulars and their Indigenous allies, as a tool of Anglo-Canadian nationalism, and as a contested historical figure in a modern nation.

Thoroughly researched and engaging, High Upon His Pedestal is a fascinating exploration of the ways myth shapes history.

Guy St-Denis holds a doctorate in history from the University of Western Ontario, where he devoted his dissertation to Sir Isaac Brock. Having previously written at length on the subject, he is now engaged in further investigations to better understand Brock’s life, military career, and battlefield behaviour.

Guy St. Denis is unquestionably the leading authority on Sir Isaac Brock. In this pioneering and meticulously researched study, he shows how Brock has emerged from two centuries of literature, art, sculpture and ceremonial homage to become a potent symbol of Canada’s right to a national identity. The writing is buoyant, the scholarship impeccable, and whole wets our appetite for a full biography of Brock from this author that would undoubtably become the standard life.

—John Sugden, author of Tecumseh, a Life and Nelson: The Sword of Albion

This is a fascinating and important study that goes well beyond Isaac Brock’s life and death to show how Canadians, particularly upper crust Loyalists, have used Brock to promote the notion that provincial society was thoroughly British and the related myth that during the War of 1812 the militia saved Upper Canada. Students interested in the long view of Canadian history and why Brock has always enjoyed such a high profile in the public memory will find this insightful book informative and rewarding.

—Donald R. Hickey, author of The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict