Explore history through the eyes of the excluded with these books

Writing about history comes in many forms, but in order to rewrite the narratives that so often exclude minorities, the oppressed and the voiceless, new forms of storytelling are needed. The following books have employed essays, oral recordings, fiction and illustration in order to shine light on stories that elude the traditional structures of nonfiction, created to record the state-sanctioned versions of dominant classes, races and genders. As a result, they do what literature does best — elevating the voices of the small, the hidden, the marginalized and the magnificent.

The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead

After the publication of his extraordinary novel Underground Railroad, we have all been holding our breath, waiting to see what Colson Whitehead would deliver next. With The Nickel Boys, he does not disappoint. Whitehead has a way of putting fictional characters into very real historical events in a manner that captivates and breaks your heart. In this case we are at Nickel, a juvenile detention centre for boys in the 1960s. The story centres around Elwood, a young black boy who is wrongly accused of car theft. He is a budding activist, full of dreams, with the words of Martin Luther King Jr. in his heart. We follow Elwood as atrocities befall him in the twisted institution, but his spirit cannot be broken by the white men in charge. The school is based on the Dozier School for Boys in Florida, which operated for 111 years. Whitehead integrates the true accounts of boys who attended that school in his narrative, even including direct quotes from interviews with survivors. He gives us insight into how this institution warped the lives of everyone who was sent there.

Last Witnesses: The Oral History of the Children of World War II, by Svetlana Alexievich

Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich records conversations with people to capture historical moments. She uses the voices of ordinary citizens to convey, from the kitchens of the nation, the true experience of events such as the Chernobyl disaster and the collapse of the Soviet Union. The voices are so raw and honest, filled with neglected, seemingly mundane details, that each of her collections breaks your heart. When we acquired the newly translated Last Witnesses, we were almost frightened by the gravitas and sorrow such a tome might contain. Could we bear to withstand war described by children who witnessed such horrors? It is strange to say, but these monologues, capturing the memories of people who were children during the war, are some of the most beautiful pages we have ever read. Children are natural poets, and look at events through a clear, brand-new lens. Many of the children draw on fairy tales as reference points to their experiences during the war. They crawl under beds and into closets, comforting their dolls and looking for their mothers, smoking cigarettes and accidentally speaking kind words to German soldiers. The humanity of children shines in these short, brutal snap shots.

Three Women, by Lisa Taddeo

Three Women follows the sexual lives of three different American women. One is a teenage girl who had a sexual relationship with her high school teacher, another is a woman whose husband will not kiss her and she begins an affair, and the third is a woman whose husband likes to watch her have sex with other men. Taddeo spent so much time with these women, recording epic numbers of conversations, before writing these accounts. The result is one of the most intimate portraits of female desire we have ever read. She uncovers the way these women feel about themselves, their bodies, and their freedom. The book is beautifully written, so moving and so, so, so addictive. The secrets these women share allow readers to become more self-aware as they recognize their own experiences in the stories. Most of all, it gives evidence that female desire is a realm of wild, provocative abandon, usurping all the ridiculous notions that men have been trumpeting for years.

This Little Art, by Kate Briggs

Kate Briggs offers an astoundingly well-written philosophical engagement with the art of translation. She discusses the act of translating as a creative one, on par with writing itself, though perhaps not considered so by readers. The translator takes a leap of faith and creates a special voice to recreate the works of writers in other languages. Briggs shares anecdotes based on her own experiences and those of other translators, capturing the vital importance of transmitting works of other cultures to the world and the patent absurdity of what is lost, and added, in translation.

A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, by Alicia Elliott

Alicia Elliott's first collection of essays was met with great anticipation — she is one of the most exciting, controversial, and insightful young thinkers in the country. Elliott's essays in this collection are biographical while simultaneously exploring the systemic roots of oppression Indigenous people in Canada face today. She tackles the issues of obesity, cleanliness, poverty and teenage pregnancy, all issues she faced growing up. Elliott's portraits are brave, empathetic and humorous. She lays all the cards of her life unabashedly on the table, all her flaws and stumbling blocks, then examines the ways in which racism created them and the way she was able to thoughtfully overcome them. This book is at once an overview of the contemporary problems Indigenous people face, such as cultural appropriation, and is also a portrait of an amazing artist coming-of-age as a young woman.

This Place: 150 Years Retold, various writers and illustrators

This graphic novel is an anthology of 10 stories from Indigenous history, covering the last 150 years. The anthology, edited by David A. Roberston, includes stories from Richard Van Camp and Katherena Vermette, and illustrations by Natasha Donovan and Jen Storm. There is also a powerful introduction by the aforementioned Alicia Elliott, who refers to colonization as the apocalypse. Some stories in the collection are very raw and realistic, while others play with magic realism in beautiful ways. The format is a daring and exciting way to convey an oral Indigenous history that has been willfully ignored by settler culture. This format is targeted at a younger audience, as a manner of introducing them to historical events that have been left out of the Canadian curriculum. The beautiful, vibrant images definitely have more impact and life than a conventional textbook.