Book Review and Takeaways: One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This reads the way it should. As angry at times. As a plea at times. As optimistic. As hopeless. As an acknowledgment of the conflict that exists between living in America while knowing about the atrocities it commits regularly. As Omar El Akkad says, it’s better to live on the side launching the missiles than the side receiving them.  That’s all to say it reads as if spoken directly from Omar El Akkad’s heart and mind, completely unfiltered. You’ll read this book and want to do more, realize you’re not doing enough, that you never did, and change how you see the world and how you interact with it.

It feels weird to say that I loved this book written to bring attention to the reality of one of the worst atrocities in my life time, but I did. I loved it for its honesty, for its rawness, and for Omar’s willingness to write it during such a ‘controversial’ time about such a ‘controversial’ topic, knowing that he wouldn’t escape without blowback and criticism. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This shines a light on the hypocrisy that exists between American ideals and values, and it’s actions, as it unabashedly bankrolls and stands behind a genocide. 

If you live in America and want to know what really makes this country churn, then you should read One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, followed or preceded by Norman Solomons, War Made Invisible. War, oppression, theft of land and resources, is what makes abundance and convenience possible here. Despite what we’ve been told, there is no secret or innate greatness this country. It is simply the exploitation of everything from coffee and bananas to oil and land. That is what our history is rich in.

Read this book and then encourage someone else to do the same.