Book Review - One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

Title: One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
Author: Omar El Akkad

My Rating: 👍👍👍👍👍
My Review: I liked this book.  I've often wondered what people would do today if they were faced with atrocities similar to the WWII holocaust. Sadly the answer appears to be nothing. By providing weapons and money to Israel, the U.S. is complicit in the ongoing slaughter of inocent people in Gaza. Someday the reality of the pain and suffering that is being inflicted on the people of Gaza will be known and everyone will be saying, they were always against it.  

Description (Audible): 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.

Description (ChatGPT): Omar El Akkad’s One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This is a striking collection that blends sharp political insight with lyrical, often haunting prose. Through essays and reflections, El Akkad confronts the contradictions and hypocrisies of modern society, especially in the context of war, displacement, and systemic injustice.

What stands out most is his ability to interweave personal experience with broader socio-political commentary. The writing is urgent but never preachy—each piece feels intimate yet universally resonant. El Akkad’s journalistic background strengthens his arguments, while his novelist’s sensitivity lends the collection emotional depth.

This is not a book for passive reading. It challenges, provokes, and demands reflection—making it a compelling, timely read for anyone interested in the complex narratives that shape our world.