An Unauthorized Biography of the World is a chronicle of that long, varied front line of communities using oral history to fight against marginalization and oppression, to give themselves a voice in the face of written history and “official” meanings.

Canadian author and oral historian Michael Riordon diverges from his usual focus on gay and lesbian communities to profile contemporary oral history projects and the people behind them. The chapters are roughly centred on a time and place, usually around an activist movement – fighting pollution in a Chicago housing project, Tyendinaga Mohawk land claims, the labour movement in Ontario. Taken literally, the title is a misnomer: 11 of 14 chapters look at North America; Africa, Asia, and Australasia, each with long oral history traditions, don’t make the cut. This lack of international scope is a shame, though the diversity of North America is well represented.

The book is understandably dialogue-heavy, and has an intimate, conversational feel. Like a good oral historian, Riordon prefers to let his subjects tell their own story. The problem with this method is that some of his subjects get preoccupied with biography and trivia, losing the real story. Other subjects are too self-regarding or are just repetitive. These problems are most evident in the two chapters (one chapter too many) on the oral history of Sept. 11. What, exactly, are all of these personal narratives getting at?

Riordon dodges this criticism early on, admitting in the introduction that An Unauthorized Biography has no “map” and no line of argument. “The gold is in the stories,” he says. According to Riordon the book isn’t objective, academic, or instructional either. So what’s a critic (or a reader) to do?

Take the stories as they are, I suppose. After all, some of them are good, even inspirational. Oral history may not always be focused, isn’t necessarily accurate, and often can’t stand alone. People embellish. They ramble. They forget details. Instead, it is the act of speaking, of having a voice, of telling a story, that is important. Riordon shows how many communities, with the help of a few forward-thinking writers and academics, are finding their voice and creating a new kind of history.