The Quiet Before

Praise

“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

“[R]ather than write yet another cyber-pessimist jeremiad, Beckerman gives us a series of richly detailed historical narratives, deeply researched and reported . . . to help us step back and think about where the next radical ideas will come from, the ones we’ll need if we’re going to get through a catastrophic century.”—Los Angeles Review of Books

“Cinematic . . . Wide-ranging, subtly ambitious . . . [Beckerman] leads us on a magical history tour—Aix-en-Provence in 1635, Moscow in 1968, Sausalito in 1985—showing but not telling, patiently piling up details.”—Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker

“[An] engaging study . . . Open-minded and curious.”—The Economist  

“[The Quiet Before] at first seems like a Big Idea book, threading together obscure parcels of history into a grand theory of today. But what distinguishes Beckerman’s latest . . . is that it has heart and purpose.”—Salon

“[The Quiet Before] can help readers to imagine—and join—a better kind of conversation in the kitchen of ideas.”—Financial Times

“The moment for this book is now as we navigate this new era of virtual interactions and wonder how we got here and where we’re headed.”—Susan Orlean, author of On Animals

“Rarely does a book give you a new way of looking at social change. This one does.”—Walter Isaacson, author of The Code Breaker

“[A] penetrating feat of the intellect . . . This book should be read by anyone interested in thinking.”—Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree

“The Quiet Before is a splendid and singular history—great storytelling, elegant prose, spanning centuries but extremely timely, connecting dots in fresh and illuminating ways.”—Kurt Andersen, author of Evil Geniuses

“We can’t imagine a better future because we can’t imagine anything much. Gal Beckerman shows the way.”—Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny

“What a beautiful and humane book.”—Thomas Chatterton Williams, author of Self-Portrait in Black and White

“The Quiet Before is that rare book: arresting in its premise, supported by historical examples, and relevant to right now.”—Sherry Turkle, author of The Empathy Diaries