Dear friends,

Over the last two years, we have built an Ink community of thought and discussion that has grown beyond my wildest hopes. Today I want to share with you what I have been working on in this period, a new book whose hope is admittedly big: to chart a road away from our trajectory into tyranny and civil war — and toward thriving multi-racial, self-governing, liberal democracy, with justice and freedom for all people.

For those who still believe in these things — and we are the majority — these last years have been full of despair. We feel like we are losing the future, and we feel that because it’s true. We are better at warning about and deploring and protesting the madness around us than at outwitting it.

But I believe we can beat the fascists and deliver the future we deserve. And I believe that because I spent the last few years immersing myself in the lives and work of a group of profoundly optimistic, hope-giving people who are succeeding where the broader pro-democracy cause falls short.

“THE PERSUADERS: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy,” which comes out on October 18, is a narrative tale of these activists, elected leaders, educators, cognitive scientists, cult deprogrammers, and, above all, organizers who are still winning people over in an age when many are shrugging and giving up.

They refuse to give up — on their communities, on freedom, on each other. And I wrote a book about them because I believe they have a formula for saving us all.

Fascists ban books because books are dangerous to them. And I have tried to write a dangerous book — a playbook for the pro-democracy cause to build a bigger “we,” to trade purism for evangelism, to muster a sense of fight, to learn the art of messaging, to win back the right’s dupes with right balance of accountability and love, to be steadfast about the just future we seek while making space for the still-waking.

In the coming days, I will share more about the book. But, for now, I write because, candidly, I need your help. I want to make this book unignorable to those who would break our society to avoid having to share it. And I want this book in the hands of everyone who plays any role, large or small, in fighting for a better future for all.

I need you to tell everyone you know about this book. Start by forwarding this email far and wide. Include your uncles and exes.

Click here to tweet about the book and make my mother proud. Or ’Gram or TikTok it.

If you work at an organization that needs to have this conversation, or even if you just belong to a book club, get in touch and I will see if I can join you. Email [email protected]

And below the jump, I am sharing for the first time anywhere all the IRL tour dates I am so excited to be able to make. Thank you, vaccines! Sign up for community conversations on these issues we all care about in one of the cities below.

You can purchase the book by getting a ticket to many of these events — and/or by clicking on one of the retailer links below.

Thank you for being part of this powerful Ink community. Thank you for your feedback and readership and support, which helps me do the work I need to do.

I am eager to see as many of you as I can on the road. Let’s win the future together.

Anand

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WHERE TO FIND THE BOOK

Indiebound. Bookshop. Barnes & Noble. Books-A-Million. Amazon. Hudson Booksellers. Powell’s. Target. Penguin Random House.

TOUR DATES (Click on links for event/ticket info)

October 18 – New York – Greenlight Bookstore at the Bell House (in conversation with Jodi Kantor)

October 19 – Boston – Harvard Bookstore at the Brattle (in conversation with former Governor Deval Patrick)

October 22 – Chicago – Chicago Humanities Festival (in conversation with David Corn)

October 24 – South Bay, Bay Area – Kepler’s (in conversation with Anat Shenker-Osorio)

October 25 – San Francisco – City Arts & Lectures (in conversation with Alexis Madrigal)

October 26 – Seattle – Town Hall Seattle with Elliott Bay Booksellers (in conversation with Naomi Ishisaka)

November 2 – Philadelphia – Philadelphia Free Library (in conversation with Tamala Edwards)

November 3 – Washington, DC – Politics & Prose (in conversation with David Leonhardt)

November 5 – Austin – Texas Book Festival (in conversation with Evan Smith)

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, for being part of this community and for lifting me up.