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.

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.

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.