with Gal Beckerman,

Author and Journalist, The Atlantic

Friday, October 9, 2026 | 7:00 p.m.

Stadtbücherei Düsseldorf | Konrad-Adenauer-Platz 1 (KAP1)

| Herzkammer | 40210 Düsseldorf

 

What makes someone willing to stand apart when everyone else is moving in the same direction? In his new book How to Be a Dissident, journalist and author Gal Beckerman explores this question through the stories of people who challenged political power, social conventions, and the pressures of their time. From Socrates and Ai Weiwei to Hannah Arendt, from the civil rights movement in the United States to the protests in Tiananmen Square, Beckerman brings together very different figures and moments in history. Rather than presenting them as distant heroes, he looks at the choices, doubts, and personal convictions that shaped their actions—and asks what their experiences can teach us. Against the backdrop of growing fear and intimidation, the book turns the question toward the present: How do we respond when our values come into conflict with the world around us? And when does remaining silent become impossible to reconcile with our own conscience?

 

Join us for a conversation with Gal Beckerman about How to Be a Dissident, the history of resistance, and what these stories can tell us about the political landscape in the United States and beyond.

 

Gal Beckerman 

is a staff writer at The Atlantic. Previously, he served as editor of the magazine’s book section and spent six years at the New York Times Book Review. His writing has also appeared in The Washington Post and other publications. Beckerman is the author of When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry, which won the Sami Rohr Prize and was named a best book of the year by The New Yorker and The Washington Post. His second book, The Quiet Before: On the Unexpected Origins of Radical Ideas, was named a New York Times Notable Book. Beckerman holds a PhD from Columbia University and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

 

Register here

 

Seats are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. We kindly ask you to only reserve the number of tickets that you will definitely use.

You do not need to print out your Eventbrite ticket. The name under which you reserved your tickets will suffice to enter.

 

The venue is wheelchair accessible.

 

We cordially thank the Stadtbücherei Düsseldorf for their hospitality

This event is kindly supported by the Federal Foreign Office.