El Akkad offers a perspective that is not only crucial but also brutally honest. While his focus is on the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people, a crisis that desperately needs global attention, the themes he addresses resonate far beyond this specific tragedy. They speak to the broader, unsettling patterns of how the West has historically acted, is acting now, and will continue to act in the future.

I often preface recommendations on tougher subjects with a gentle warning, advising readers to be in the right headspace. While I do not wish to dismiss the importance of mental health, I encourage you to lean into the discomfort for a few hundred pages and pick up One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This when it releases on February 25th. It offers a much-needed perspective.

And, of course, it wouldn't be a proper review without mentioning that the writing is stunning.

"One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This" - the title says it all. Omar El Akkad shares a raw truth that unfortunately too many people will realize too late. The West promises lands of freedom and justice, yet it turns its back on those who are struggling and facing unimaginable injustices. The West has always been able to control the narrative of global events; turning U.S funded soldiers into heros and innocent civilians into casualties of war. El Akkad voices what people need to hear, denial harms everyone involved.

This memoir hits every nerve it needs to. When we live in a world of comfort it can be difficult to imagine the suffering others are enduring. The genocide of Palestinian people is real regardless of which governmental body is willing to acknowledge it. El Akkad tells his lived experiences in a way that is undeniable. We as a society need to start standing up against this genocide, we needed to stand up forty years ago. However, since time travel isn't possible yet, the second best time to take a stand is now.

This one is fantastic. Some really beautiful and sharp writing on empire and the hypocrisy that makes empire possible and powerful. It’s smart how he anchors the book with Gaza and genocide and circled back through both personal essay, cultural touchstones, and other examples of empire sacrificing humans to save itself. The moral clarity is refreshing as hell.

A hard look at what it means to look away from the atrocities of Israel-Palestine as someone who lives in the Western Empire. At times, it gives resonance of James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, and other times, it becomes a voice all of its own with its sense of rage and questioning. I found myself wanting to learn more of what it means to be a journalist who is a product of two worlds, and to be an observer of these worlds. I also wished to learn more family history, which was equally as compelling to read.

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad is a bold, raw reckoning with Western ideals, their promises, and their failures. Written with passion and urgency, this book captures El Akkad’s profound disillusionment with a system that he feels has betrayed its promises, especially toward Black, brown, and Indigenous people. This disillusionment is something many Westerners may struggle to grasp fully, but El Akkad’s perspective is valuable for understanding the worldviews of those often marginalized or overlooked.

Reading this book felt intense, almost like being reprimanded by someone who has seen too much suffering and betrayal to stay silent. While El Akkad’s anger is at times overwhelming, his fury is born of experience, loss, and hard truths that demand to be acknowledged. As a white Midwestern man, I found myself grappling with some of his points, often feeling unable to fully relate but knowing his perspective is crucial and rooted in realities I may never fully experience or understand.

Though I don’t connect with his experiences directly, the book touched me on a fundamental level: as a human, I could empathize with his pain and frustration. And while I wouldn’t put my family or their well-being on the line for any ideology, I do believe this book serves as a powerful opportunity to listen to voices we seldom hear in mainstream narratives. This isn’t a book that seeks comfort or acceptance—it’s a challenge to see the cracks in Western ideals and the real impact of their shortcomings.

For anyone ready to confront these uncomfortable truths, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This is worth the read. It’s thought-provoking and important, a true book for our time.