Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World

Literary awards - National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Criticism (2023), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Nonfiction (2023), Writers' Prize Nominee for Nonfiction (2024), Women's Prize for Non-Fiction (2024), Libby Award Nominee for Best Memoir & Autobiography (2023).

What if you woke up one morning to discover that you had acquired another self—a double who was almost you, yet disturbingly different? What if this double shared your concerns but twisted them, advancing the very causes you’ve spent your life fighting against?

Not long ago, renowned activist and public intellectual Naomi Klein faced just such a surreal experience—a doppelgänger whose views she found deeply troubling, yet whose name and public persona were so similar to her own that people began confusing them. This unsettling encounter left her disoriented until she recognized it as a symptom of a broader strangeness that many of us are grappling with: AI-generated content blurring the lines between real and fake communication; New Age wellness influencers morphing into anti-vaxxers, upending traditional political alignments; and liberal democracies teetering on the brink of absurd authoritarianism as environmental crises escalate. In these times, reality itself seems to be slipping away. Is there a remedy for this collective dizziness?

Naomi Klein, one of today’s most incisive social critics, known for her sharp analysis of the effects of branding, austerity, and climate profiteering on our societies and souls, now turns her gaze inward, exploring our psychic landscapes and the potential for hope amidst overlapping economic, medical, and political crises. Drawing inspiration from figures like Sigmund Freud, Jordan Peele, Alfred Hitchcock, and bell hooks, Klein uses humor and a sharp sense of the absurd to confront the strange doubles that haunt us—doubles that feel as familiar as a distorted reflection in a mirror.

In this blend of comic memoir, chilling reportage, and thought-provoking analysis, Klein sets out to shatter that mirror and find a way beyond despair. Doppelganger examines what we lose as we obsess over our digital reflections. Can we overcome the destructive tendencies of a culture obsessed with replication? Can we build a politics of collective care and confront the historical wrongs that shape our present? The result is a profound exploration of the way many of us think and feel today—and an intellectual journey for our times.