On Courage

"INVALUABLE. A CLASSIC OF OUR TIME. Everybody should read it." —RACHEL MADDOW

A deeply reported manual about how anyone can defy an authoritarian – based on original interviews with more than 100 dissidents, activists, and theorists across the world.

The United States is only the latest country to face a leader who wields fear as a weapon, punishes political enemies, disappears people off the street, and undermines free and fair elections. Today nearly three out of four people on earth live under authoritarianism, the highest rate since the late 1970s.

But even under repressive conditions, each of us holds the power to help defeat autocrats. Based on their acclaimed The New Yorker essay “So You Want to Be a Dissident?,” veteran reporter Julia Angwin and political strategist Ami Fields-Meyer give us a captivating – and profoundly hopeful – guide to courage in an age of fear.

Meet a student from Hong Kong who risked everything for democracy. A mom in a working-class neighborhood of Caracas who broke with the political movement that raised her. Cairo twentysomethings who staged a gutsy stunt to help bring down a dictator. A mild-mannered immigrant fighting to save a landmark U.S. civil rights law. People throughout the United States and across five continents who faced serious risks for dissenting in their workplace, their community, or their country. On Courage is the story of how they did it anyway – and how you can do it, too.

Blending rich, previously untold narratives with history, spirituality, and movement research, Angwin and Fields-Meyer deliver a highly accessible book full of practical lessons – an inspiring resource for anyone, anywhere, who feel the walls of history closing in on them. On Courage is a roadmap to political courage and a powerful case for how taking personal risks can help save the free world.

Julia Angwin is an award-winning investigative journalist, a bestselling author, a New York Times contributing Opinion writer and founding director of the Independent Media + Audience Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. She is the founder of two nonprofit newsrooms – Proof News and The Markup – that investigate the impacts of technology. She is a winner and two time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance (Times Books, 2014) and Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America (Random House, March 2009).

“On Courage is an important new contribution to the literature of patriotic dissent, and comes at a vital time in the life of our democracy. Extremely well-written. . . . Within these pages you will meet the heroes who took on other agents of oppression and preserved their democracies. We will, too.”

- Adam Schiff, U.S. Senator and New York Times #1 bestselling author of Midnight in Washington

"This book will make you think and feel differently about what it means to live in this country at this moment and what you are capable of as your country needs you. It will make you feel less alone in the world and less alone in history. It will give you concrete ideas of what you can do right now to help your country. It will make you feel more equipped for whatever is coming next. I couldn't recommend it more highly. . . . Invaluable. A classic of our time. Everybody should read it." - Rachel Maddow

“If there are books for moments in history this must certainly be one. It’s clear, practical and above all inspiring. It’s a counsel of hope. It shows how humble beginnings—a few people talking together—become the first seeds of radical social, spiritual and political change. Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny and Ece Temelkuran’s How to Lose a Country told us where we were heading. This extraordinary work tells us what we can do about it—how we, the people, can change things. It traces the history of successful social movements, and also tells us where things sometimes went wrong. When I find a book that seems really important I sometimes buy multiple copies so I can share them with friends. I want to buy hundreds of this one.” - Brian Eno

"Democracy rarely fails because people don’t know right from wrong. More often, it falters because those with power face hard moments alone—and choose safety over courage. Ami Fields-Meyer and Julia Angwin have written an essential guide that gives us the tools to stand up for what we believe in during the critical moments ahead." - Joyce Vance, New York Times bestselling author of Giving Up is Unforgivable

"In keeping with its title this book is itself an act of altruistic courage. Here is the practical, historically informed examination of dissent that our troubled moment calls for. We have, in recent years, witnessed violent insults to democracy, to the rule of law and to basic civic decency and asked 'What can we do?' One profoundly important answer to that question should be: 'Begin by reading On Courage.'" - Jelani Cobb, dean of the Columbia School of Journalism and New Yorker staff writer

On Courage by Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer is a deeply reported and hopeful book about how ordinary people find the strength to resist authoritarian power. Rather than presenting courage as a rare quality reserved for heroes, the book shows it as a practical skill that can be learned, practiced, and strengthened through real choices. Drawing on interviews with more than 100 dissidents, activists, and thinkers across the world, the authors build a wide-ranging portrait of what it means to stand up when fear, surveillance, intimidation, and social pressure are meant to keep people quiet. The book is not only about dramatic protests or political uprisings. It is also about smaller acts of moral resistance, personal sacrifice, and the daily discipline needed to keep going when speaking out carries a cost.

At the center of the book is the idea that authoritarianism depends on fear. Leaders who want to control people try to make dissent feel dangerous, isolating, and futile. They punish opposition, spread confusion, and make people believe they are alone. Angwin and Fields-Meyer argue that courage begins when people refuse that isolation. The book uses examples from places such as Hong Kong, Caracas, Cairo, and the United States to show how people choose to act even when the risks are serious. These stories are not presented as distant inspiration; they are used as practical lessons in how dissent actually works and how people can protect truth, dignity, and community under pressure.

The book also emphasizes that courage is rarely a solitary act. The authors show that effective resistance usually depends on networks of trust, strategic planning, and collective support. A person who speaks out alone may be vulnerable, but a person who acts with others is harder to silence. The stories in the book highlight organizers, students, workers, parents, immigrants, and activists who took risks not because they were fearless, but because they understood that waiting for fear to disappear would mean surrendering the future. This makes On Courage less of a memoir and more of a manual for moral action, with the authors blending history, movement research, spirituality, and first-hand accounts to show how dissent survives and spreads.

Another important theme is nonviolence. The book argues that nonviolent movements are often more effective than violent ones because they can win broader public support and expose the brutality of repression more clearly. It presents courage not as recklessness, but as disciplined resistance guided by strategy and purpose. The authors make clear that bravery does not mean acting without fear or consequence. It means choosing to move forward anyway, while remaining organized, resilient, and focused on a meaningful goal. In this way, the book reframes courage as something grounded in endurance, not just confrontation.

What makes On Courage especially strong is its practical tone. The book is not simply saying that people should be brave; it explains how courage grows in real life. It points to the importance of naming injustice, building solidarity, tolerating discomfort, and taking small steps that expand what feels possible. It also shows how courage can begin in unexpected places, including workplaces, neighborhoods, and families. This broader definition matters because it makes the book relevant beyond headline-making political struggles. The authors suggest that anyone facing intimidation, whether from a government, an institution, or a community, can learn from the people they profile.

The emotional core of the book is hope. Even though the subject is fear and repression, the book refuses despair. Its stories repeatedly show that one person’s willingness to resist can encourage others and change the atmosphere around them. Courage spreads. Once people see that dissent is possible, they are more likely to imagine their own role in it. That is why the book ultimately feels less like a warning and more like an invitation. It asks readers to rethink what they owe one another in difficult times and to see moral action as something ordinary people can practice, not something that belongs only to history’s famous figures.

Overall, On Courage is a serious and timely book about resisting authoritarianism with intelligence, solidarity, and persistence. It combines reporting with reflection and turns real-world examples into a clear argument for civic bravery. The result is a book that is both inspiring and useful, showing that courage is not the absence of fear, but the decision to act with others in spite of it.