Gal Beckerman
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
📤 15663
📥 134
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Staff writer at The Atlantic, formerly NYTBR, and author of the forthcoming “How to Be a Dissident.”
pinned post!
I’ve spent the past year on a search. How do we push back against the forces that are crushing us right now? How do we resist the dehumanization of our politics, our technology? The answers came from people who pushed back before us: the dissidents...🧵
3 months ago
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Gal Beckerman
The Atlantic
1 day ago
If you’re heading out for a summer vacation, The Atlantic’s writers and editors have suggested some page-turners to bring along. Our staff writer
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
chose “The Silver Bone.” See more selections here:
theatln.tc/eUSwrLje
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Gal Beckerman
Boris Dralyuk
2 days ago
A killer recommendation from
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
for
@theatlantic.com
Summer Reads special—the first of Andrey Kurkov’s Kyiv Mysteries. Samson Kolechko just unraveled his third case for
@harpercollins.bsky.social
and
@quercusbooks.bsky.social
, so you had better catch up!
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Gal Beckerman
PEN America
3 days ago
In this week’s PEN Ten interview, we speak to
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
about How to Be a Dissident (Crown Publishing Group, 2026). The book teaches readers to fight back by adopting 10 qualities. Among them: Be funny. Be reckless. Be immortal. Check it out:
pen.org/gal-beckerman-the-pen-ten
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Gal Beckerman, Author of ‘How to Be a Dissident,’ Was His Own Intended Audience
In this PEN Ten interview, Gal Beckerman discusses How to Be a Dissident, which seeks to teach readers how to fight back.
https://pen.org/gal-beckerman-the-pen-ten
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This is today! At noon! Click to watch live.
add a skeleton here at some point
4 days ago
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Gal Beckerman
The Atlantic
6 days ago
On May 13, join the Atlantic staff writer Gal Beckerman and podcast host Adam Harris to discuss Beckerman’s new book, “How to Be a Dissident,” which is part history and part manual for living with integrity in an age of conformity and authoritarian drift.
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Atlantic Reads: How to Be a Dissident With Gal Beckerman
The Atlantic staff writer Gal Beckerman and podcast host Adam Harris discuss Beckerman’s new book, How to Be a Dissident.
https://bit.ly/4d4mETH
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Gal Beckerman
To the Contrary
8 days ago
How to Be a Dissident • The Best Strategy? Be a Hopeful Pessimist ... A conversation with Gal Beckerman
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How to Be a Dissident
The Best Strategy? Be a Hopeful Pessimist ... A conversation with Gal Beckerman
https://charliesykes.substack.com/p/how-to-be-a-dissident
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Charlie Sykes
8 days ago
The power of the “No Kings” Protests. Today’s “To the Contrary” podcast with Gal Beckerman.
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Charlie Sykes
8 days ago
Dissidents need to take the long view. Today’s ‘To the Contrary” Podcast w/ Gal Beckerman.
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Charlie Sykes
8 days ago
Dissidents need to cultivate a sense of humor. Today’s “To the Contrary” podcast with author Gal Beckerman.
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Gal Beckerman
Walter Mondale’s Ghost 🇺🇸🇩🇪🇺🇦🇨🇦☦️
8 days ago
An excellent podcast with
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
and
@sykescharlie.bsky.social
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
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How to Be a Dissident
Podcast Episode · To The Contrary with Charlie Sykes · May 9 · 48m
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/to-the-contrary-with-charlie-sykes/id1794683063?i=1000766941688
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Gal Beckerman
aRemedy
11 days ago
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
I recommend this book.
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Gal Beckerman
Andrea Chalupa
11 days ago
🧵Dissidents are the stubborn people who insist on creating the world they want to live in. This week on Gaslit Nation,
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
discusses his new book, How to Be a Dissident Listen to the conversation we all need right now:
www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-tra...
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How to Be a Dissident — Gaslit Nation
On this hopeful Gaslit Nation, we confront the MAGA fascist takeover with a look at the ultimate antidote: how to be a dissident.
https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/episodes-transcripts-20/2026/5/5/how-to-be-a-dissident
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Gal Beckerman
The Atlantic
11 days ago
Ibram X. Kendi’s new book, "Chain of Ideas," describes the "Great Replacement" theory as the product of a conspiracy—but he fails to explain why it appeals to people in the first place,
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
argues:
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For Ibram X. Kendi, It’s Nazis All the Way Down
His new book describes the “Great Replacement” theory as a convoluted plot, but fails to explain why it appeals to people in the first place.
https://bit.ly/4u2qQJS
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Gal Beckerman
Gaslit Nation
11 days ago
@galbeckerman.bsky.social joins Gaslit Nation for How to Be a Dissident, on obedience amid rising autocracy. Trump, ICE, China, and Iran show why conscience matters more than comfort. Listen:
https://loom.ly/cxVzJ2k
#oligarchy
#dictatorship
#dictatortrump
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Gal Beckerman
Extremely grateful for this deeply engaged review of How to Be a Dissident in the
@lareviewofbooks.bsky.social
, which correctly diagnoses my state of mind: "He does not flinch from his own dilemmas...This is writing that trusts the reader to be in the same difficulty. It earns that trust."
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12 days ago
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aRemedy
12 days ago
“When others demand you close your eyes, you keep them open.” —Gal Beckerman, How To Be A Dissident
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Extremely grateful for this deeply engaged review of How to Be a Dissident in the
@lareviewofbooks.bsky.social
, which correctly diagnoses my state of mind: "He does not flinch from his own dilemmas...This is writing that trusts the reader to be in the same difficulty. It earns that trust."
add a skeleton here at some point
12 days ago
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Gal Beckerman
The Atlantic
12 days ago
Ibram X. Kendi’s new book, "Chain of Ideas," describes the "Great Replacement" theory as the product of a conspiracy—but he fails to explain why it appeals to people in the first place,
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
argues:
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For Ibram X. Kendi, It’s Nazis All the Way Down
His new book describes the “Great Replacement” theory as a convoluted plot, but fails to explain why it appeals to people in the first place.
https://bit.ly/49fovCJ
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Gal Beckerman
Joe Stieb
12 days ago
This is an excellent review of a book that looks terrible.
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I wrote about Ibram X. Kendi's new book, which takes on the admirable task of cataloging the spread of the dangerous Great Replacement Theory, but ignores the actual reasons why its proven so appealing.
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For Ibram X. Kendi, It’s Nazis All the Way Down
His new book describes the “Great Replacement” theory as a convoluted plot, but fails to explain why it appeals to people in the first place.
https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/05/ibram-x-kendi-chain-of-ideas-great-replacement-book-review/687060/?gift=36xIZW1dWh1PIKcC10tbq-k7s7feBw0LLy3XEitEQ8c&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
12 days ago
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Daniel Ziblatt
17 days ago
Read this book. An account of how to be a citizen in the face of authoritarianism
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PacifistCell
17 days ago
I loved this definition from *How to be a Dissident* by Gal Beckerman (as reported in The Contrarian, Jen Rubin):
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Gal Beckerman
Alison loves stories
20 days ago
Just finished this one and can not recommend it enough. Compulsively readable, easily accessible, truth telling history, empowering stories, well documented strategies for all of us. A good companion to Timothy Snyders on Tyranny.
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Yaël Eisenstat
16 days ago
Just trying to read. (Thanks for the book recommendation
@jenrubin.bsky.social
. Enjoying
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
, despite my pup’s intervention.)
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Gal Beckerman
Mila Atmos
16 days ago
This conversation with
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
is uplifting and a reminder to all citizen changemakers that we must keep speaking the truth.
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Gal Beckerman
KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘
16 days ago
The Atlantic
@theatlantic.com
Gal Beckerman
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
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Gal Beckerman
Future Hindsight
17 days ago
When you hear the word “dissident,” you might be thinking of some wild protest with barricades and shoving, but it’s deeper than that. Resistance belongs to all of us. And this week,
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
lays out a path for change we should all consider. (2/3)
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Gal Beckerman
Future Hindsight
18 days ago
TOMORROW:
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
joins us to discuss the radical idea that dissidence belongs to all of us. Living with truth is the starting point to being a citizen changemaker and to taking impactful civic action. Tune in TOMORROW wherever you get your podcasts! 🎙️
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Jeff Wasserstrom
25 days ago
Very pleased to see The Milk Tea Alliance as a phenomenon & Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal as an individual make cameos in the just published book How To Be a Dissident by
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/816867...
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Gal Beckerman
Howard French
26 days ago
🙌🏼
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Today’s the pub date for this little rocket of a book that was no more than some jotted down notes a year ago. I hope you get a chance to check it out, and I hope it feels meaningful and helpful!
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26 days ago
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Gal Beckerman
Jeff Wasserstrom
26 days ago
Happy publication day to
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
whose important and engaging new book How to Be a Dissident is out today
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/816867...
(a strong short follow up yo his impressive last book on the history of social & intellectual movements The Quiet Before)
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How to Be a Dissident by Gal Beckerman: 9798217089215 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
An invigorating guide to fighting back—part philosophy, part history, and part manual for living with integrity in an age of conformity and authoritarian drift How do we push back in a world where...
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/816867/how-to-be-a-dissident-by-gal-beckerman/
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𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐫
27 days ago
A sharp, urgent review of a sharp, urgent book. A lesson worth remembering—now, and always.
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"How to Be a Dissident" is out tomorrow...But you can NOW read
@astra.bsky.social
's review in the
@nytimes.com
of a book she calls "one man’s reckoning with the existential questions posed by the rising tide of authoritarianism."
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27 days ago
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Astra Taylor
28 days ago
I reviewed
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
's rousing manual How to Be a Dissident. It's a timely provocative book that grapples with the existential questions posed by rising authoritarianism, and it challenges us to wrestle with what kind of dissident we'd like to be.
www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/b...
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Is There a Right Way to Rebel?
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/books/review/how-to-be-a-dissident-gal-beckerman.html?unlocked_article_code=1.cFA.A2K4.tdd7JQpc4o0Q&smid=url-share
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After writing this piece, I’m wondering where our American islands might be…
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29 days ago
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Gal Beckerman
The Atlantic
29 days ago
Among the many reasons for Viktor Orbán’s defeat were the rural clubs where citizens relearned democratic habits.
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
on the role of the "Tisza Islands" in the Hungary election:
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The Quiet Way Authoritarianism Begins to Crumble
Among the many reasons for Viktor Orbán’s defeat was the rural clubs where citizens relearned democratic habits.
https://bit.ly/4sHuJCm
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Gal Beckerman
Jason Dove Mark
about 1 month ago
I love this
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
celebration of Henry David Thoreau as a dissident. The problem with our ideas of Thoreau (as I've said before) is not that we mis-read him, but that we mis-remember him (since most of us read him in high school)
www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/0...
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If You Want a Better World, Act Like You Live in It
We’ve had Henry David Thoreau the environmentalist, the libertarian, the life coach. To understand his influence, think of him first as a dissident.
https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/04/henry-david-thoreau-great-american-dissident/686823/
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Gal Beckerman
D I V A
about 1 month ago
"For Thoreau, the system was held up by individuals, and individuals had the wherewithal to undo it. If everyone who thought slavery was wrong refused to pay their taxes and went to jail, then slavery would end."
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Gal Beckerman
The Atlantic
about 1 month ago
Among the many reasons for Viktor Orbán’s defeat were the rural clubs where citizens relearned democratic habits.
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
on the role of the "Tisza Islands" in the Hungary election:
loading . . .
The Quiet Way Authoritarianism Begins to Crumble
Among the many reasons for Viktor Orbán’s defeat was the rural clubs where citizens relearned democratic habits.
https://bit.ly/4mD99xt
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If you want a better world, act like you live in it... Here's an excerpt from my new book, How to Be a Dissident, out next week, which features Thoreau, but also Joseph Brodsky and Ernst Bloch...masters all of presumptuousness.
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If You Want a Better World, Act Like You Live in It
We’ve had Henry David Thoreau the environmentalist, the libertarian, the life coach. To understand his influence, think of him first as a dissident.
https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/04/henry-david-thoreau-great-american-dissident/686823/?gift=36xIZW1dWh1PIKcC10tbqw9yLfHoZLQT2ShUo6H6EnQ&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
about 1 month ago
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Gal Beckerman
The Atlantic
about 1 month ago
We've had Henry David Thoreau the environmentalist, the libertarian, the life coach—but to understand his influence, think of him first as a dissident,
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
argues.
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Be as Self-Righteous as Thoreau
He has been seen as an environmentalist, a libertarian, a life coach. To understand his influence, think of him first as a dissident.
https://bit.ly/3OsZi0n
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We often disparage dissidents as self-righteous, but if you look at Thoreau, and what it took to oppose slavery in his time, maybe acting out of conviction does take a certain presumptuousness. An excerpt in
@theatlantic.com
from "How to Be a Dissident."
www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/0...
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Be as Self-Righteous as Thoreau
He has been seen as an environmentalist, a libertarian, a life coach. To understand his influence, think of him first as a dissident.
https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/04/henry-david-thoreau-great-american-dissident/686823/
about 1 month ago
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Gal Beckerman
New York Review Books
3 months ago
"This is why radical universalism is hard: It often demands that you go against your own immediate interests." For Gal Beckerman, reading Omri Boehm's "cogent, succinct book [Radical Universalism] felt like such a cold plunge, painful but reinvigorating." Universal rights are politics.
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Is Anything Morally Obvious Anymore?
The public reaction to the violence in Minneapolis suggests that we have held on to our sense of universal truths.
https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/02/omri-boehm-radical-universalism-book-review/686016/
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Gal Beckerman
The Atlantic
about 1 month ago
Pictures of the Earth from the Artemis II mission offer a sense that humans are united. If only Donald Trump could see what the astronauts do,
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
writes.
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What the Astronauts See That Trump Cannot
Pictures of the Earth from the Artemis II mission offer a sense that humans are united. If only a bellicose president could feel the same.
https://bit.ly/4e83zki
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Gal Beckerman
The Atlantic
about 1 month ago
Pictures of the Earth from the Artemis II mission offer a sense that humans are united. If only Donald Trump could see what the astronauts do,
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
writes.
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What the Astronauts See That Trump Cannot
Pictures of the Earth from the Artemis II mission offer a sense that humans are united. If only a bellicose president could feel the same.
https://bit.ly/4dyFHGv
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If Trump went to space, would the Overview Effect have an effect on him...I suspended gravity and disbelief, and tried to think this through.
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What the Astronauts See That Trump Cannot
Pictures of the Earth from the Artemis II mission offer a sense that humans are united. If only a bellicose president could feel the same.
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/04/what-astronauts-see-trump-cannot/686720/?gift=36xIZW1dWh1PIKcC10tbq5n9H3ao7X_RSbsiqZNn3io&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
about 1 month ago
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Gal Beckerman
The Atlantic
about 2 months ago
The festooning of the president’s name and likeness across Washington, D.C., is consistent with authoritarian tendencies,
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
writes: “Authoritarian leaders want their face in your face.”
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The Strangeness of a Trumpified Capital
The festooning of the president’s name and likeness across Washington, D.C., is consistent with authoritarian tendencies.
https://bit.ly/4sX9PzA
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Gal Beckerman
Evan McMurry
about 2 months ago
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
: “Authoritarian leaders want their face in your face. Their ubiquitous images personalize the state, making it synonymous with one man’s power. And they turn the citizen’s relationship with that leader into an emotional one.”
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The Meaning of Trump’s Ubiquitous Face
The festooning of the president’s name and likeness across Washington, D.C., is consistent with authoritarian tendencies.
http://theatlantic.com/culture/2026/03/trump-face-all-over-washington-dc/686467/
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Gal Beckerman
Juli
about 2 months ago
“He could be scowling, or maybe slyly smiling. His glowering eyes are less enigmatic; they seem to follow the pedestrians scurrying around the city from above… “Authoritarian leaders want their face in your face”
@galbeckerman.bsky.social
www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
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