The Quiet Before

On the Unexpected Origins of Radical Ideas

By: Gal Beckerman

Narrated by: Feodor Chin

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • An “elegantly argued and exuberantly narrated” (The New York Times Book Review) look at the building of social movements—from the 1600s to the present—and how current technology is undermining them

“A bravura work of scholarship and reporting, featuring amazing individuals and dramatic events from seventeenth-century France to Rome, Moscow, Cairo, and contemporary Minneapolis.”—Louis Menand, author of The Free World

We tend to think of revolutions as loud: frustrations and demands shouted in the streets. But the ideas fueling them have traditionally been conceived in much quieter spaces, in the small, secluded corners where a vanguard can whisper among themselves, imagine alternate realities, and deliberate about how to achieve their goals. This extraordinary book is a search for those spaces, over centuries and across continents, and a warning that—in a world dominated by social media—they might soon go extinct.

Gal Beckerman, an editor at The New York Times Book Review, takes us back to the seventeenth century, to the correspondence that jump-started the scientific revolution, and then forward through time to examine engines of social change: the petitions that secured the right to vote in 1830s Britain, the zines that gave voice to women’s rage in the early 1990s, and even the messaging apps used by epidemiologists fighting the pandemic in the shadow of an inept administration. In each case, Beckerman shows that our most defining social movements—from decolonization to feminism—were formed in quiet, closed networks that allowed a small group to incubate their ideas before broadcasting them widely.

But Facebook and Twitter are replacing these productive, private spaces, to the detriment of activists around the world. Why did the Arab Spring fall apart? Why did Occupy Wall Street never gain traction? Has Black Lives Matter lived up to its full potential? Beckerman reveals what this new social media ecosystem lacks—everything from patience to focus—and offers a recipe for growing radical ideas again.

Lyrical and profound, The Quiet Before looks to the past to help us imagine a different future.

©2022 Gal Beckerman (P)2022 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Beckerman’s wide range is impressive and makes The Quiet Before the most original book I’ve read in a long time.”—The New York Review of Books

“Excellent . . . Among the joys of The Quiet Before is how it reframes the seeming flotsam of everyday communication as tacitly subversive.”—Chicago Tribune

“The Quiet Before is a quirky, delightful mix of a book . . . Beckerman’s historically expansive case studies and engaging storytelling make The Quiet Before distinct and worthwhile.”—Washington Post

All Ideas Proceed From a Purpose

When a group of people perceive a situation that affects large numbers of those around them it will begin to attract the like minded who will try to organize in a way that might solve or mitigate the problem.

Unfortunately many time those who are perceived as the leaders or push themselves forward as easily co opted by those who have money and power. Finding the middle place is always a problem.

Thoughtful Survey with No Magic Solutions

Gal Beckerman's "The Quiet Before: On the Unexpected Origin of Radical Ideas" is a historical survey of how different media, from letters through manifestos and samizdats and zines to today's social media, have been central to the successes and failures of movements for social and political change. It's a thought-provoking book, and to Beckerman's credit he offers no magic solutions to the mess social media has made of public discourse. Rather, he points to private and moderated spaces for discussion and consensus-building as the essential places where new ideas can be formulated and brought before a larger public. Highly recommended, in whatever media you choose to read it.