Now on sale! — available as hardcover, e-book, or audio
US / Canada edition — Bookshop.org; Amazon; Barnes & Noble
UK / EU edition — Bookshop.uk; Waterstones; Amazon; Hive
Germany — Dussman; Amazon
Australia — Booktopia; Amazon; Dymocks
Portugal / Spain — Bertrand; Amazon
Southeast Asia — Kinokuniya Singapore
*****
Early praise for If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution…
“This is a wondrous work of mystery writing, an effort to solve the riddle: Why has a decade of large-scale rolling revolts produced no revolution, no significant structural reform? I can’t think of any journalist other than Bevins who would dare to ask such a question, or be capable of weaving together seemingly discrete global events into a stunning history of now. Have we planted seeds for a better future, or have the gears of change frozen for good? Bevins lets the people he talked to, those on the street, answer.”—Greg Grandin, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The End of the Myth
“In this remarkably assured and sweeping history of the present, Vincent introduces us to the activists, hackers, punks, martyrs, and the millions of ordinary people whose small acts of bravery spurred the mass protests of the last decade. Bevins’s clear-eyed, sympathetic account of the unfulfilled promise of these protests leaves his reader with a bold vision of the future—one in which his book’s lessons are used to transform an uprising into a true revolution.”—Merve Emre, critic for the New Yorker
“I was not expecting this, but I think If We Burn is even better than The Jakarta Method.”—Benjamin Fogel, editor at Jacobin
“Bevins’s colorful reportage captures the élan of militants…and he’s also incisive in his critique….The result is an illuminating postmortem on a decade of false dawns.”—Publishers Weekly
“Hands down the best account — scholarly or journalistic — of the protest decade (2010-2020) across the world. Absolutely brilliant, sensitive, thoughtful, and so wonderful to think with.”—Laleh Khalili, author of Sinews of War and Trade
“Bevins has spent the last 10 years or so following and interviewing in search of answers. ‘The point was not just to notice that the mass protest decade hasn’t really worked out,’ he muses toward the end of the book. ‘The idea was to understand why.’ Fortunately, he comes away from his globe-trotting search with critical lessons for activists both here and abroad.”—The New Republic
“A must-read for anyone trying to make sense of the profound global transformations since 2008. If We Burn brilliantly interweaves lived experiences and historical context to explain the confusing and effervescent years that changed not only Brazil, but the world as we know it. And the prose is delightful. I started reading and could not stop.”—Rosana Pinheiro-Machado, author of Amanhã Vai Ser Maior and The Rise of the Radical Right in the Global South
“This book tries to solve perhaps the most important puzzle posed by recent history“—Daniel Denvir, n+1 magazine book recommendations
“A riveting, almost novelistic narrative”—Dazed
“[A] remarkable new history….For a full decade, mobilized by social media and inflamed by the inequities of globalization, the world was on fire with mass protest.”—David Wallace-Wells, New York Times Magazine
“This book is phenomenal. A thrilling, blow by blow (and often live on-the-ground) analysis of how the various people-led movements and revolutions over the last decade succeeded or failed. Incalculably useful to anyone who’d like to make substantive, enduring changes to their town, country or even the world. I cannot think of a book that so soberly and forensically analysed the very recent past. If We Burn is about as good as journalism gets.”—Rob Delaney, author of A Heart that Works
“The best book I read this year….If We Burn is a globetrotting journey of historical reportage. Bevins conducted more than 200 interviews in 10 countries. Attentive to local particularities, he diligently retells how each protest developed before zooming out to ponder the implications for the “mass protest decade” and consider what would be required for such movements to succeed in the future.”—Eamon Whalen, Mother Jones
“Once you have read this incredible new book, you will start seeing its lessons absolutely everywhere, all around you.”—Dharna Noor, climate reporter at The Guardian
“Outstanding….[Bevins] cares enough about his subjects to do them justice. His memorable descriptions are among the book’s chief pleasures. It’s hard to forget the ‘rowdy and gregarious’ Mayara, fan of the all-woman Brazilian punk band Menstruação Anarquika (Anarchic Menstruation), or Bahar, the ‘wry and impish scientist’ who joined Turkey’s uprising.”—Current Affairs
*****
Tour dates
Oct 4: New York, Greenlight Bookstore (with Krithika Varagur)
Oct 5: Philadelphia, Making Worlds (with Nazia Kazi)
Oct 7: Baltimore, Red Emma’s (with Dharna Noor)
Oct 8: Washington D.C., Politics and Prose (with Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò)
Oct 10: Toronto Public Library [virtual event] with Camila Escalante
Oct 12: Boston College (with Fernando Bizzarro)
Oct 15: Chicago, In These Times (with Asha Ransby-Sporn)
Oct 17: UC Berkeley (with Daniel Aldana Cohen)
Oct 18: Los Angeles, Skylight Books (with Jollene Levid)
Oct 26: London, Daunt Books (with Yara Rodrigues Fowler)
Nov 1: Bristol, Bookhaus (with Darran McLaughlin)
Nov 2: Manchester, Islington Mill (with Partisan Collective)
Nov 4: London, Radical Bookfair (with Laleh Khalili)
Nov 13: Lisbon, Livraria da Travessa (with revista Setenta e Quatro)
Nov 21: Berlin, Flutgraben (with Bloque Latinoamericano)
Nov 30: Dublin, Connolly Books (with Rosana Pinheiro-Machado)
Dec 7: Chicago, Haymarket Books [virtual event] with Naomi Klein
January 24: King’s College, London (with Hossam el-Hamalawy)
February 21: University of Sheffield (with Molly Avery and Rodrigo Nunes)
February 24: Glasgow, Aye-Aye Books / Centre for Contemporary Arts
February 29: Yale Law School (with Chisato Kimura and Chloe Miller)
March 6: NYU Law School (with Anjali Kamat and Analilia Mejia)
May 4: Oakland, 815 Alice St. (with Seeing Red)
*****
Translations and publicity — contact
We are currently seeking partners to publish the book in as many territories as possible, and continue to promote the book internationally. For any inquiries regarding translation rights, do not hesitate to get in touch. The same goes for media requests, and you can reach me at vbevins@gmail.com. Thank you