000			a
999			_c31023 _d31023
008			220621b xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9781787636217
082			_a303.484 _bBEC
100			_aBeckerman, Gal
245			_aQuiet before : on the unexcepted origins of radical ideas
260			_bBantam Press, _c2022 _aLondon :
300			_a331 p. ; _c24 cm
365			_b799.00 _cINR _d01
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520			_aA provocative, incisive look at the building of social movements-from the 1600s to the present day-and how current technology is undermining them. 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 over how to get there. 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 jumpstarted the scientific revolution, and then forward through time to examine the 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, 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.
650			_aProtest movements
650			_aSocial change
650			_aCivil society
650			_aContestation
650			_aAlt-right
650			_aBlack Lives Matter
650			_a Bratmobile
650			_aIncubation needed
650			_aNewport Rising
650			_a Sisi government
650			_a Futurists
650			_a Girl bands
650			_a Italy
650			_a Manifestos
650			_a Clark death
650			_aPeople's charter
650			_aPunk
650			_aReform Bill
650			_aGorbanevskaya's poetry
650			_aSoviet Union
650			_a Suffrage
650			_aTwitter
650			_a World War
650			_aZines
942			_2ddc _cBK