One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

By: Omar El Akkad

Narrated by: Omar El Akkad

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From award-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad comes a powerful reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its fundamental values

“I can’t think of a more important piece of writing to read right now. I found hope here, and help, to face what the world is now, all that it isn’t anymore. Please read this. I promise you won’t regret it.”—Tommy Orange, bestselling author of Wandering Stars and There There

On October 25, 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 has been viewed more than 10 million times.

As an immigrant who came to the West, El Akkad believed that it promised freedom. A place of justice for all. But in the past twenty years, reporting on the War on Terror, Ferguson, climate change, Black Lives Matter protests, and more, and watching the unmitigated slaughter in Gaza, El Akkad has come to the conclusion that much of what the West promises is a lie. That there will always be entire groups of human beings it has never intended to treat as fully human—not just Arabs or Muslims or immigrants, but whoever falls outside the boundaries of privilege. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This is a chronicle of that painful realization, a moral grappling with what it means, as a citizen of the U.S., as a father, to carve out some sense of possibility in a time of carnage.

This is El Akkad’s nonfiction debut, his most raw and vulnerable work to date, a heartsick breakup letter with the West. It is a brilliant articulation of the same breakup we are watching all over the United States, in family rooms, on college campuses, on city streets; the consequences of this rupture are just beginning. This book is for all the people who want something better than what the West has served up. This is the book for our time.

©2025 Omar El Akkad (P)2025 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"It is difficult to understand the nature of a true rupture while it is still tearing through the fabric of our world. Yet that is precisely what Omar El Akkad has accomplished, putting broken heart and shredded illusions into words with tremendous insight, skill and courage. A unique and urgently needed book.—Naomi Klein, author of Doppelganger

"[A] bracing memoir and manifesto.... With precision and passion, [El Akkad] compels readers to close the emotional distance between 'us' and 'them' and to consider the immense suffering of civilians with renewed urgency."—The New York Times

"One Day is powerful, angry, but always compelling in its moral logic, and damn hard to put down.... by the end my heart was drumming.... For me it was cathartic, almost spiritual....It is an important book, a must-read"—Dina Nayeri, The Guardian

Thank you 🙏🏽

Everything about this book was everything we all need to know, hear, consider, and act upon.

Literally the best book I have ever read

This is literally the best book I have ever read or listened to. Great narration and production too.

ppwerful

There are feelings that only this author can express so well. It's the ability to understand why we feel the way we do, and draw analogies from the more mundane aspects of life to show how absurd feeling any other way would be.

Outstanding - Should be required reading

Outstanding. This should be required reading, especially for all Americans. It is beautifully written and hauntingly insightful. Unfortunately, in the United States today, millions of parents are more afraid of their children learning America's true history than they are of ensuring that the mistakes of the past are not repeated. When your nation develops a global reputation for drowning out morality and decency with pathetic, jingoistic taunts of 'USA! USA! USA!' it is hard to keep from being cynical. When you live in a culture that considers ANY criticism, no matter how sincere, as 'HATRED FOR AMERICA!", speaking out can feel like an exercise in futility.

I greatly admire Akkad and his willingness to speak out. He provides a perspective I think few Americans often hear, and one that is absolutely crucial that they do.

A book with explanations to much of what is happening today, comforting to the oppressed.

The language is easy yet the sentences are layered in a way that makes your feelings build and rise with it.
The personal account of events makes you relate so much.
One of my favorite audio books.

Quality of writing-searing

Insightful look at worldwide injustice . Seeing different countries and cultures strengths and . Truth telling in personal narrative and journalistic eye for detail

Unflinching and clear eyed

I finished my listen with a deep sense of gratitude to the author. There are so many poignant turns of phrase that led me toward deep truths that I will be listening again immediately just so they might more permanently stay with me.

could not stop listening to it

I could not stop listening to this book. I finished it in one go. Omar's a brilliant, honest and courageous writer with easy to follow and yet powerful text. he sheds light on how meticulously and religiously we are being told that the human life and dignity have tiers.

Western liberalism’s broken moral compass

Omar El Akkad’s “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This” is a profound and unflinching examination of Western liberalism’s moral contradictions, particularly in response to the devastation in Gaza. El Akkad, drawing from his rich background as a journalist and novelist, offers a collection of ten interrelated essays that weave personal narrative with incisive critique. His measured yet impactful prose challenges readers to confront the ethical implications of silence and complicity in the face of systemic violence.

Exquisite

The book was an exquisite articulation of all of the hypocrisies of the current moment - in particular the genocide of Palestinians while the world watches and does nothing.