Tal Lavin

Tal Lavin (Formerly Talia Lavin; born 1989) is an American journalist. He is the author of Culture Warlords: My Journey into the Dark Web of White Supremacy, published in 2020,^[1] and Wild Faith: How the Christian Right Is Taking Over America, published in 2024.^[2]

Life

Lavin grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey into a Jewish family and was raised Modern Orthodox.^[3][4] He attended SAR High School^[5] and graduated from Harvard University in 2012 with a degree in comparative literature.^[6] He was a Fulbright scholar^[7] and spent a year in Ukraine from 2012 to 2013.^[8] In 2025 Lavin came out as a trans man.^[9]

Career

Lavin worked as a fact-checker at The New Yorker.^[10] In 2018, he was hired as researcher on far-right extremism by Media Matters for America.^[11]

Until January 2019 Lavin wrote a weekly political column in HuffPost,^[12] and he also worked as a columnist for MSNBC Daily.^[13] His work appeared in the Washington Post as well.^[14]

Bibliography

Books

• Culture Warlords: My Journey into the Dark Web of White Supremacy. Hachette Books. 2020. ISBN 9780306846434
• Wild Faith: How the Christian Right Is Taking Over America. Legacy Lit. 2024. ISBN 9780306829192

Essays and reporting

• "[Untitled review of The Binc bar]". Goings on About Town. Bar Tab. The New Yorker. 93 (10): 33. April 24, 2017.^[15]

Critical studies and reviews of Lavin's work

Culture warlords

• Szalai, Jennifer (2020-10-14). "An Undercover Trip Into the Rageful Worlds of Incels and White Supremacists". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
• Kellogg, Carolyn (2020-10-27). "An Expedition Deep Into an Underworld of Online Hate". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
• "'My goal was to destroy him' – Jewish journalist Talia Lavin on infiltrating white supremacist groups online". independent. 4 July 2021. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
• "White Supremacy And Its Online Reach : It's Been a Minute". NPR.org. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
• "Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy | Jewish Book Council". www.jewishbookcouncil.org. 2020. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
• Venkataramakrishnan, Siddarth (8 February 2021). "'Culture Warlords' — undercover among neo-Nazis". Financial Times. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
• Tuttle, Kate (October 22, 2020). "A writer infiltrates the world of white nationalism in 'Culture Warlords' - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 1 September 2022.