If We Burn

“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.”

“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 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.”

“Ambitious, diligently researched, and provocative, If We Burn will transform the way you think. Vincent Bevins’ detailed, comparative reporting offers a riveting look at the contradictions, unexpected consequences, and lessons of mass protests.”

“I was not expecting this, but I think If We Burn is even better than The Jakarta Method.”

"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.”

“This insightful study should prove valuable to future activists across the globe.” 

“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.”

“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.”

“Once you have read this incredible new book, you will start seeing its lessons absolutely everywhere, all around you.”

“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”

“[This is] 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.”