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Editors’ Choice from The New York Times Book Review
In this landmark collection spanning three centuries and four waves of feminist activism and writing, Burn It Down! is a testament to what is possible when women are driven to the edge. The manifesto—raging and wanting, quarreling and provoking—has always played a central role in feminism, and it’s the angry, brash feminism we need now.
Collecting over seventy-five manifestos from around the world, Burn It Down! is a rallying cry and a call to action. Among this confrontational sisterhood, you’ll find:
• “Dyke Manifesto” by the Lesbian Avengers
• “The Ax Tampax Poem Feministo” by the Bloodsisters Project
• “The Manifesto of Apocalyptic Witchcraft” by Peter Grey
• “Simone de Beauvoir’s pro-abortion Manifesto of the 343
• “Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female” by Frances M. Beal
• “The Futurist Manifesto of Lust” by Valentine de Saint-Point
• “Zapatista Women’s Revolutionary Laws”
• “Riot Grrrl Manifesto” by Bikini Kill
• “Anarchy and the Sex Question” by Emma Goldman
Breanne Fahs argues that we need manifestos in all their urgent rawness—their insistence that we have to act now, that we must face this, that the bleeding edge of rage and defiance ignites new and revolutionary possibilities is where new ideas are born.
Reviews
“This exhilarating work of love and scholarship is a radiant gift to all who value liberation and justice. Reading it filled me with hope, inspiration and an electric connection to the angry, dissatisfied comrades who have come before me—as well my outraged contemporaries. A must-read, an antidote to powerlessness, a literary companion for the ages.”
“An invaluable reminder of feminism’s radical and revolutionary visions. It’s also, to those least inclined to read it but most in need of doing so, a powerful threat.”
“In an age of platitudes and etsy-fied feminist empowerment products, Breanne Fahs gives us the uncompromising, the unruly, the ungovernable, the unpalatable. This book is a fiery reminder that the world does not change, we change the world.”
“This text is important historically and as a handbook for understanding and organizing today. Fahs has put together a collection that runs from the immediate and practical to the futuristic and abstract. In doing so, she reminds us that radical feminism is both utopian vision and practical argument.”
“Any Gender Studies professor who isn’t teaching this book is missing something important in their curriculum … This book is a true feminism buffet, no matter what angle is of interest to you.”
“Learned and impassioned ... irreverent, scabrous and enraged, these manifestos also happen to be full of contradictions, written in the heat of the moment and without a cool eye to posterity. But it’s this rough-hewn immediacy that makes some of them so bracing to read, especially now.”
“Powerful and inspiring”
“Magnificently cathartic … a reminder of the power and importance of taking a position, asserting your rights and expressing them forcefully—and that we can take strength from these positions, appreciate them, disagree, and argue the nuances with equal force and passion.”
“Burn It Down sweeps through time and across the globe.”
“Any Gender Studies professor who isn’t teaching Burn It Down! is missing something important in their curriculum.”
“An essential text for any time, but especially this one.”
Verso recommends
