I'm writing a book

ON COURAGE is a primer for dissent and defiance in America's age of fear. Coming summer 2026.

I’m thrilled to share this news: I’m writing a book about how to challenge authoritarianism.

Earlier this year, I teamed up with Julia Angwin, the investigative journalist and New York Times Contributing Opinion writer, to publish an essay in The New Yorker called “So You Want to Be a Dissident?” The article pieced together the lessons of dissidents across the globe into a short primer for fighting autocrats in a climate of rising fear.

Now Julia and I have signed a contract with the HarperCollins Mariner imprint to expand our reporting into a book. ON COURAGE is a deeply reported guide to taking risk and doing courageous things when the state is using fear as a weapon against its people. The book weaves the stories and lessons of dissidents on five continents into a manual for Americans. It’s scheduled to be published next summer.

In book terms, this is an incredibly fast turnaround. Julia and I have been interviewing global activists and writing furiously for months now. We will be chained to our desks for a bit longer as we work to complete a manuscript.

But the project feels urgent. We are in a country that is losing its grip on democracy. Hard-won civil rights hang in the balance. This book is not an argument about why or how our democracy is backsliding. It’s about what we do next — as individuals, as communities, and as a nation.

Clear-eyed about the very real costs that can come with embracing defiance in our daily lives, the book is a practical guide for how to do it anyway — with steps for managing risk as safely and joyfully as possible.

There are many, many options still available to us. Some of this is new and some of it isn’t; brave people in this country and beyond have been fighting for their rights and for each other for a very long time. We’ve been studying at their feet, and this book is meant to convey their hard-earned wisdom. We hope it is useful to you.

For now, it’s back to writing. See you soon.