At the start of the 21st century, a wave of revolution moved across the former Communist east. Uprisings in Serbia, Georgia and Ukraine swept aside unpopular undemocratic governments. At the heart of these revolutions was a new kind of youth movement. Groups like Otpor, Kmara and Pora staged spectacular and dramatic protests, using humour, satire and the power of popular culture to undermine the authorities.

The Time of the Rebels is the inspiring story of those movements - participants tell how they created popular resistance movements, defying threats, violence and mass arrests in an attempt to change their countries and the world.

Using first-hand accounts and eyewitness reportage, the book also tells how in other countries, such as Belarus and Azerbaijan, fierce clampdowns by the authorities thwarted similar attempts to stage revolutions.