One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This [Large Print]

By Omar El Akkad

Book Overview

From award-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad comes a powerful reckoning with what it means to live in the heart of an empire that doesn't consider you fully human.

On October 25th, 2023, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, Omar El Akkad put out a tweet: "One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this." This tweet was viewed more than ten million times.

One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This chronicles the deep fracture that has occurred for Black, brown, Indigenous Americans, as well as the upcoming generation, many of whom had clung to a thread of faith in Western ideals, in the idea that their countries, or the countries of their adoption, actually attempted to live up to the values they espouse.
This book is a reckoning with what it means to live in the West, and what it means to live in a world run by a small group of countries--America, the UK, France, and Germany.  It will be The Fire Next Time for a generation that understands we're undergoing a shift in the so-called "rules-based order," a generation that understands the West can no longer be trusted to police and guide the world, or its own cities and campuses. It draws on intimate details of Omar's own story as an emigrant who grew up believing in the Western project, who was catapulted into journalism by the rupture of 9/11.
This book is El Akkad's heartsick breakup letter with the West. It is a breakup we are watching all over the United States, on college campuses, on city streets, and the consequences of this rupture will be felt by all of us. His book is for all the people who want something better than what the West has served up. This is the book for our time.

• Format: Paperback
• Large Print: Yes
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0D83DKQBV
• ISBN13: 9798217070251
• Release Date: February 2025
• Publisher: Random House Large Print Publishing
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Incredibly powerful

Raw. Illuminating. Intense. “What will always flummox the state is the prospect of the individual, of many individuals, employing negation as a political tactic. What to do with someone who doesn’t rush the podium, doesn’t spit on the flag, doesn’t do anything to ease the states transition into the comfortable arena of violence. What to do with someone who says, “I will have no part of this.” When the entire functionality of the system is dependent on active participation. Forced into this kind of space power becomes enraged and behaves accordingly. Legislators rush to pass bills outlawing boycotts, not only an obvious violation of the freedoms those legislators are sworn to protect, but also, a practical impossibility, this quest to stop people from not buying something. Terms like economic terrorism are tossed around by the same people who are quite happy to pull their donations from universities and literary festivals and anywhere that doesn’t sufficiently silence whatever they want silenced.”

A Heartbreaking Read

Omar has such a conversational tone in this book, so it is easy to read, even though the subject matter in and of itself is not easy. He brings a level of humanity to the Palestinians and their struggle, which has been taken from them for so long. The scenes he describes will stick with you.

One of the best books I have ever read

Mr. El Akkad writes with precision, clarity and ruthlessness about the topics, especially the genocide in Gaza, that all Americans need to come to terms with for the sake of our society and our own souls. His writing is also beautiful and, miraculously, considering what he is writing about, filled with grace. I am deeply grateful for this book and will think about these words and what is behind these words for a very long time.