Home Books If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missi…

If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution

If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution

by Vincent Bevins

PublicAffairs ·2023 ·337 pages
Near the Top
Near the Top
I Index
70/99
Near the Top

53/99

Critics' Rating Index

Top of the Pile

86/99

Readers' Rating Index

n/a

Scholars' Citation Index

51/99

Volume of Reviews

68/99

Volume of Reader Ratings

Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.


About This Book

The story of the recent uprisings that sought to change the world - and what comes next From 2010 to 2020, more people participated in protests than at any other point in human history. Yet we are not living in more just and democratic societies as a result. IF WE BURN is a stirring work of history built around a single, vital question: How did so many mass protests lead to the opposite of what they asked for? From the so-called Arab Spring to Gezi Park in Turkey, from Ukraine's Euromaidan to student rebellions in Chile and Hong Kong, acclaimed journalist Vincent Bevins provides a blow-by-blow account of street movements and their consequences, recounted in gripping detail. He draws on four years of research and hundreds of interviews conducted around the world, as well as his own strange experiences in Brazil, where a progressive-led protest explosion led to an extreme-right government that torched the Amazon. Careful investigation reveals that conventional wisdom on revolutionary change is gravely misguided. In this groundbreaking study of an extraordinary chain of events, protesters and major actors look back on successes and defeats, offering urgent lessons for the future.


Reviews

"Questions remain, but this insightful study should prove valuable to future activists across the globe."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

"There is both power and peril in leaderless mass action."

Osita Nwanevu· The New Republic Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"It has been learned, unlearned, and relearned for decades, even centuries."

Tyler McBrien· Los Angeles Review of Books Read review ↗ Near the Top

"The result is an illuminating postmortem on a decade of false dawns."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Bevins posits that the explosion of social media has helped fuel a deepening disdain for traditional political parties in democratic countries, a contempt reflected in the protests as well as everything from the Brexit movement in Britain to the anarcho-punk underground scene in Brazil ..."

Scott Anderson· The New York Times Read review ↗ Near the Top

Preview


Reader Reviews

0 reviews

Sign in to write a review.

No reader reviews yet. Be the first!