Thomas Chatterton Williams is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is also a visiting professor of humanities at Bard College, a 2022 Guggenheim fellow, and a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of Self-Portrait in Black and White. Williams’s work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, The New Yorker, The London Review of Books, Le Monde, and many other places, and has been collected in The Best American Essays and The Best American Travel Writing. His new book, The Summer of Our Discontent: The Age of Certainty and the Demise of Discourse, is published by Knopf.

We discuss his latest book, 'The Summer of Our Discontent,' exploring themes of identity, race, and the impact of political discourse in contemporary society. He reflects on his personal journey of unlearning race, the implications of the Obama era, and the rise of identity politics. Williams emphasizes the need for a centrist approach to politics and the importance of open dialogue amidst increasing polarization. The discussion also touches on the role of faith and belonging in modern life, as well as the contrasting responses to identity politics in America and Europe.

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