Monument Books bags investigation of the Earth Liberation Front in same-day pre-empt
Monument Books has bought Matthew Wolfe’s "cinematic" non-fiction investigation into "the dark underbelly of the fight to save the planet", expanded from a New York Times Magazine article he wrote on the subject, in a same day pre-empt.
Publishing director Kishani Widyaratna pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, in physical, digital and audio to Fires in the Night: The Earth Liberation Front, the FBI and the Hidden Fight to Save the Planet from Emma Paterson of Aitken Alexander, on behalf of Adam Eaglin at the Cheney agency.
North American rights were acquired by Allison Lorentzen at Viking and Italian rights went to NR edizioni. The book will be published in the UK in July 2026.
Its blurb reads: "In the early hours of October 28, 1996, a driver in rural Oregon spotted flames rising from a federal ranger station. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze and discovered a cryptic phrase spray-painted nearby: ‘EARTH LIBERATION FRONT.’ Over the next decade, the Earth Liberation Front would carry out some of the most audacious politically motivated arsons in history. They wanted to send a message: if the government wouldn’t halt the destruction of the natural world, they would.
"Despite causing no deaths, the ELF was branded the nation’s foremost domestic terrorism threat and became the target of one of the FBI’s largest ever investigations. Fires in the Night is the definitive story of the ELF’s rise and unravelling. Drawing on years of original reporting and interviews, journalist Matthew Wolfe offers a thrilling, forensic and page-turning account of a moment when the actions of radical environmentalists challenged mainstream complacency. As the climate crisis continues to accelerate, Wolfe asks: facing the end of the world as we know it, exactly what kind of resistance is justified?"
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Widyaratna said: "In this remarkable non-fiction debut, Matthew Wolfe reveals the jaw-dropping, truth-is-stranger-than-fiction story of the radical environmentalist group the Earth Liberation Front and its members, and in doing so illuminates the history and future of the fight to save our planet. Utterly gripping, forensic in detail but told with remarkable, cinematic flair, this is Say Nothing meets The Men Who Stare at Goats, with a dash of How To Blow Up a Pipeline."
Reni Eddo-Lodge, editor-at-large of Monument Books, commented: "Matthew Wolfe’s writing on environmental militancy is explosive. Fires in the Night is a fascinating study of the contradictions, convictions and personal costs that shape political movements."
Wolfe said of the deal: "I’m so pleased to be working with Kishani Widyaratna, Reni Eddo Lodge and Monument Books, who have set out a bold, fearless vision for the possibilities of non-fiction. It’s a true privilege.
"We are living in a moment in which there’s a widespread sense of struggling to move forward, where many are finding that the old ways of making important political and social changes simply don’t work anymore. I hope my book about the Earth Liberation Front can offer some important lessons from all those invested in creating a better world."
