... combines relentless on-the-ground reporting with a deep understanding of the city’s political, economic and social undercurrents.

... an engaged and authoritative account of the movement – both the fire and the sparks that lit it.

Readers will appreciate how the author places the events of 2019 in the context of earlier episodes in Hong Kong’s history such as the 2014 Umbrella Movement and the 1967 riots.

... resists the temptation of trying to either predict the future or suggest that this story is finished.

...an extensive narrative of the anti-extradition protests that shook Hong Kong last year.

Readers may feel like they are on a journey in Hong Kong with Daprian as he unravels the intellectual and political developments of these movements and how the Hong Kong government responded and attempted to contain the protests. Drawing on a variety of sources—newspapers, social media, radio broadcasts, policy papers—Daprian explains the rise and implosion of the protests led by mostly youths and college students, and the economic, political, and cultural ramifications for Hong Kong. Readers interested in Hong Kong’s history and politics and the history of social movements will find this engaging, engrossing book to be crucial in understanding the role of political demonstration in contemporary Hong Kong..

But, disappointingly, Dapiran’s book is one-sided and one-dimensional. It does not give us a thoroughly nuanced insight into the complicated reality.

... commanding.