Summer of Our Discontent

The Age of Certainty and the Demise of Discourse

De: Thomas Chatterton Williams

Narrado por: Thomas Chatterton Williams

An incisive, culturally observant analysis of the evolving mores, manners and taboos of social justice (“anti-racist”) orthodoxy, which has profoundly influenced how we think about diversity and freedom of expression, often with complex or paradoxical consequences.

In this provocative book, Thomas Chatterton Williams, one of the most revered and reviled social commentators of our time, paints a clear and detailed picture of the ideas and events that have paved the way for the dramatic paradigm shift in social justice that has taken place over the past few years. Taking aim at the ideology of critical race theory, the rise of an oppressive social media, the fall from Obama to Trump, and the twinned crises of COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd, Williams documents the extent to which this transition has altered media, artistic creativity, education, employment, policing, and, most profoundly, the ambient language and culture we use to make sense of our lives.

Williams also decries how liberalism—the very foundation of an open and vibrant society—is in existential crisis, under assault from both the right and the left, especially in our predominantly networked, Internet-driven monoculture.

Sure to be highly controversial, Summer of Our Discontent is a compelling look at our place in a radically changing world.

* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF of footnotes.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2025 Thomas Chatterton Williams (P)2025 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Even when I disagree, I admire those ‘Hard-Headed Negroes,’ like Thomas Chatterton Williams, who have the mettle and tenacity to challenge orthodoxy, often risking censure by their contemporaries for daring to speak their minds. Thomas Chatterton Williams has taken his place among these brilliant dissenters.”—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Distinguished Professor, Harvard University

“Mass insanity broke out among America's elites in the summer of 2020, with devastating consequences for America's knowledge-creating institutions. Thomas Chatterton Williams is one of the few intellectuals who stood firm and made the case with great courage for liberal values and the free exchange of ideas. In Summer of our Discontent he returns with a gift: a way of understanding what happened to us that preserves the humanity of all parties and points the way forward toward renewal.”—Jonathan Haidt, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Anxious Generation

“Thomas Chatterton Williams uses a fiercely probing intelligence, instinctively dissatisfied with absolutist explanations, to explore without ideological blindfolds what happened in one momentous summer. Camus would have liked this book.”—Adam Gopnik, bestselling author of The Real Work

University Moderate Sanity

On the left side of the spectrum that for a time was dominated by anti racism, white fragility, and social justice this was a more sane approach to being both empathetic to 2020 but providing a moderate viewpoint moving forward that allows for a public discourse versus the damaging beliefs that let to voters re-electing Trump in 2024.

Gives hope for parents sending kids to universities that this could be a voice they hear versus the far left damage that has hurt our country and decimated Democrats.

Worth your time

Don't cherry pick. Read/listen to the whole thing all the way to the end. I listened to the author's other 2 books first so my recommendation comes with that perspective as well. The combination of the author's personal experience growing up in the US, before he went abroad to live with his wife in France ensures his familiarity with the American character and recent dialogues, but his time in France also offered distance from which he watched many recent events unfold, His thoughts jive with my sense that there's been a race to the bottom in American political rhetoric and activity over the last 30 years; I wonder if we, the rational middle, can finally champion a "turn the other cheek" way ahead rather than pursue an eye for an eye approach or the need for the last word. Or as recently pleaded, "disagree better".

Truth-telling magnificence

Mr. Chatterton-Williams provides a sophisticated and true analysis of the past decade of leftist moral politics in the Anglo-sphere. Sadly it is also smarter and more nuanced than we actually deserve. It will be recognized by history, one imagines, but not in our own times. Oh wells.

Excellent Analysis of the times we live in.

I applaud the author for his acute analysis of the complete madness we've lived through recently. As a lifelong lefty, who was "left behind" by the party I'd supported for decades, I appreciate the insightful way that the author ties everything together, beginning with Obama's ascendancy in 2008. The book looks back to the euphoria of Obama's inauguration; the phenomenon of BLM, and the horrendous riots; the astonishing Trump win in 2016, and the 2021 insurrection; the effects of the Covid lock down, and the bizarre cultural ideology--Woke. The author really nails it. And, I personally found this book "connecting the dots" for me.

Beautifully written, nuanced

William Chatterton Williams shows empathy even for those with whom he disagrees. He sometimes probes his own attitudes critically, all of which makes his considered insights into the political excesses of our time incisive, nuanced and compelling. His contrast between American identitarian politics and French “anti-wokeism” and universalism is especially balanced. Although he leans toward universalism he sees limitations of both world views. (Some will recognize this chapter from one of his Atlantic articles.)
Williams is also one of those authors who narrates their own work well. Whether you agree or disagree with all his views, open-minded readers/listeners will find The Summer of our Discontent engaging.

Great synopsis of the past 5 years.

It’s nice to see an accurate account of the facts of the times and not simply the feelings that led to many incorrect assumptions and assertions. Facts still matter and there is no greater freedom that needs preservation than speech for a democratic society.

That was excrutiating

Long, meandering sentences that hold no conclusions. An amplified blame on the left without examining what Trump did or who he was. Wish I hadn’t bought it, yuck.

The authors limited perspective on either side, definitely results in limited impact and effectiveness

I did not like that. The author appeared to not have done enough research to gain a diversity of perspectives on either side of the race, social, economical perspective. The author seems to not fully understand all of the dynamics that play in the social order it appears also that the authors limited life experiences Couple with the fact that the author resides in France is only exposed in the form of years to a limited western perspective, definitely render his assessment in accurate and ineffective.

Ambitious Analysis, Imbalanced Execution

Rating: DNF—abandoned in search of a more balanced view

Summer of Our Discontent” by Thomas Chatterton Williams is an ambitious examination of the cultural and political turmoil that emerged from the year 2020 and its aftermath, especially around issues of speech, liberalism, and identity.

DNF (Did Not Finish), however, the book’s approach and tone made it difficult to remain engaged, particularly for someone seeking a more balanced interpretive lens on an increasingly polarized world.

Williams’s work aims to dissect the shift in social mores and taboos following pivotal events like the George Floyd protests and the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing heavily on the erosion of open discourse and the rise of “cancel culture.” The arguments are well-cited and, at times, incisive. Yet, the narrative occasionally slips into an ivory tower rhetorical mode and can feel overwrought, with a tendency towards professorial hyperbole that distances rather than clarifies. The result is a book that seems to demand either full agreement with the author’s liberal critique of both left and right—or significant patience with his often bleak assessment.

A recurring critique, and a reason for my disengagement, is the book’s overall bleakness.

While tracing the casualties of social justice orthodoxy and cultural monoculture, Williams struggles to offer substantive hope or actionable ideas for change, making the final stretch feel less like a roadmap and more like a requiem for a lost era of discourse. This approach left me wanting a broader range of voices and a greater generosity toward differing perspectives.

Who Is This Book For?
Those who share Williams’s classical liberal sensibilities—or who are already skeptical of dominant cultural narratives—may find “Summer of Our Discontent” validating and, at times, bracingly sharp.

But if you are seeking a truly balanced, open exploration of the era’s complexities and paradoxes, the book may prove frustratingly one-sided, more a lament than a dialogue-starter. For readers interested in the causes and consequences of America’s cultural crises but hoping for a nuanced, pluralistic conversation, the book’s tenor and narrow focus may prompt an early exit.