Gal Beck­er­man is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of The Qui­et Before: On the Unex­pect­ed Ori­gins of Rad­i­cal Ideas, a New York Times notable book, and When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone: The Epic Strug­gle to Save Sovi­et Jew­ry, which won the Sami Rohr Prize. His writ­ing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wash­ing­ton Post, and many oth­er pub­li­ca­tions. He has a PhD from Colum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty and lives in Brook­lyn, New York.