The controversial G20 economic summit in Toronto has been the subject of countless articles, media stories, documentary films, works of art, and now, a book of essays. Editors Tom Malleson and David Wachsmuth focus on the protest movement rather than the summit itself, and have gathered together writers from a diverse group on the political left to offer their assessments of what transpired that weekend in June 2010.

The collection is divided into three parts, examining some of the key organizations involved in the protest, documenting the protest itself through first-hand accounts, and looking ahead to what can be built from the movement. Whose Streets? claims to be the first book about Toronto’s G20, and while it may be that, it won’t constitute the definitive word on the subject.

Malleson and Wachsmuth devote the first part to some of the figurehead organizations on the Canadian left (such as the Ontario Coalition against Poverty, No One Is Illegal, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees), allowing them to lay out their ideas and methods. The highly politicized writing will sound familiar to anyone who has ever sat on a stalled committee, and will be extremely frustrating to any reader outside of the established leftist protest movement. Readers seeking agitprop may find this part successful; others will find it uninspiring.

The book’s second and third parts offer slightly more. Focusing on eyewitness accounts and reportage, these sections, though repetitive at times, provide powerful illustrations of the clashes between security forces and protesters. Particularly good is a piece from the Movement Defence Committee examining the legalities of police action and the ways law enforcement attempted to criminalize dissent.

In its dissection of protest tactics, and its reinforcement of anti-capitalist sentiment, Whose Streets will appeal to students of the left and few others. For general readers, the valuable first-hand accounts of police overreaction, and serious discussions of the systemic problems that caused it, are buried beneath the overwrought language of entrenched political organizers.