A new chronicle of Trump’s second term achieved stratospheric sales for a nonfiction book. Gal Beckerman explores what the success of “Regime Change” might mean for the president:

My holiday reading is superb. Thanks so much @galbeckerman.bsky.social for this bloody hopeful book and massive thanks @anandwrites.bsky.social for pointing us to it from your brilliant writing! Anchors, both of you, to where to look for the fire to act.

@boriskachka.bsky.social speaks with @galbeckerman.bsky.social about the philosophers whose thinking helps explain the symbolic importance of the UFC fight staged in front of the White House. Read more in The Atlantic’s Books Briefing.

@boriskachka.bsky.social speaks with @galbeckerman.bsky.social about the philosophers whose thinking helps explain the symbolic importance of the UFC fight staged in front of the White House. Read more in The Atlantic’s Books Briefing.

For his 80th birthday, Donald Trump threw America a UFC fight—and one particular book can help you understand how this "spectacle of excess" expresses Trump's worldview, @galbeckerman.bsky.social writes:

I watched the UFC fights last night and I can promise you this is the only piece that brought Roland Barthes into the Octagon.

As our nation turns 250, it’s worth asking what form patriotism should take, @galbeckerman.bsky.social argues. A new book about American pride prompted him to ponder what it means to love an unfinished country:

This exalted patriotism, a “still-religious intuition that we have already arrived.” It has left festering injustices unattended, “dumb wars,” and a perpetual red-white-and-blue fireworks display that distracts from difficult truths about the country’s failings. www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/0...

I laid out in @theatlantic.com a few different ways to love America when you're not on board with Pete Hegseth's idea of patriotism.

“Erdozain’s argument is that, again and again, the myth of America allowed its leaders to act in ways that violated the founding ethos, that the country was ‘an idea trapped in its own publicity’.” An idea trapped in its own publicity. Brilliant! @galbeckerman.bsky.social

@galbeckerman.bsky.social and @wajali.bsky.social I was on the waitlist for weeks to get this from my library, but worth the wait 🤓 thanks so much for writing it ❤️

@galbeckerman.bsky.social’s new book “How To Be A Dissident” is the latest addition to the Antifascist Book Club reading list. Check out @onoffensepod wherever you get your podcasts for my conversation with Gal. Links in thread 👇 #antifascistbookclub #bookclub #howtobeadissident #readinglist

With his new encyclical, Pope Leo XIV makes a case for resisting AI on grounds far beyond religion; he argues for the importance of human fallibility and struggle, @galbeckerman.bsky.social writes:

Read it. Learn it. Know it. Live it.

“[Sisyphus] is happy because he understands that this kind of thing — trudging up and down, up and down — is not a punishment, actually, but what all humans have done for all time.” ~ Gal Beckerman, “How To Be A Dissident”

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

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!

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

This is today! At noon! Click to watch live.

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.

How to Be a Dissident • The Best Strategy? Be a Hopeful Pessimist ... A conversation with Gal Beckerman

The power of the “No Kings” Protests. Today’s “To the Contrary” podcast with Gal Beckerman.

Dissidents need to take the long view. Today’s ‘To the Contrary” Podcast w/ Gal Beckerman.

Dissidents need to cultivate a sense of humor. Today’s “To the Contrary” podcast with author Gal Beckerman.

An excellent podcast with @galbeckerman.bsky.social and @sykescharlie.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

@galbeckerman.bsky.social I recommend this book.

🧵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...

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:

@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

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."

“When others demand you close your eyes, you keep them open.” —Gal Beckerman, How To Be A Dissident

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."

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:

This is an excellent review of a book that looks terrible.

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.

Read this book. An account of how to be a citizen in the face of authoritarianism

I loved this definition from *How to be a Dissident* by Gal Beckerman (as reported in The Contrarian, Jen Rubin):

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.

Just trying to read. (Thanks for the book recommendation @jenrubin.bsky.social. Enjoying @galbeckerman.bsky.social, despite my pup’s intervention.)

This conversation with @galbeckerman.bsky.social is uplifting and a reminder to all citizen changemakers that we must keep speaking the truth.

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com Gal Beckerman @galbeckerman.bsky.social

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)

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! 🎙️

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...

🙌🏼

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!

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)

A sharp, urgent review of a sharp, urgent book. A lesson worth remembering—now, and always.

"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."

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...