Thomas Chatterton Williams
@chatterton.bsky.social
Writer (The Atlantic). Current 📕: SUMMER OF OUR DISCONTENT (Knopf). Non-resident fellow (AEI). Senior fellow, visiting prof. of humanities (Hannah Arendt Center, Bard College). Representation (APB; Wylie). Student & Teacher. Instagram: @chattertonwilliams.
Pinned
I want to thank from the bottom of my heart everyone who has gone out and bought a copy of Summer of Our Discontent or spread the word about it. It’s reaching readers on Amazon and beyond, and I am profoundly grateful 🙏🏽
A large masked man who is surrounded by armed backup shooting a lone and panicked woman in the face in broad daylight is such an insane visual metaphor for this administration’s overall disproportionate use of force
January 7, 2026 at 10:12 PM
A large masked man who is surrounded by armed backup shooting a lone and panicked woman in the face in broad daylight is such an insane visual metaphor for this administration’s overall disproportionate use of force
Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams
STRAIGHT UP MURDER
January 7, 2026 at 9:09 PM
STRAIGHT UP MURDER
so many people will grasp for the flimsiest reason to justify a needless death then blithely go about their day
January 7, 2026 at 8:58 PM
so many people will grasp for the flimsiest reason to justify a needless death then blithely go about their day
“It is re-reading, not reading, that counts
January 6, 2026 at 10:38 PM
“It is re-reading, not reading, that counts
Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams
"I used to listen to music all the time," @chatterton.bsky.social laments. "Now I fill every available moment with the sound of people talking." Compulsively listening to podcasts shows "just how limiting too much information can be," Williams argues:
The Podcast ‘Productivity’ Trap
Maybe don’t fill every available silence with the sound of people talking.
bit.ly
December 31, 2025 at 7:45 AM
"I used to listen to music all the time," @chatterton.bsky.social laments. "Now I fill every available moment with the sound of people talking." Compulsively listening to podcasts shows "just how limiting too much information can be," Williams argues:
The pleasure of just building a small fire at home and simply sitting in front of it is almost unparalleled
December 27, 2025 at 3:37 PM
The pleasure of just building a small fire at home and simply sitting in front of it is almost unparalleled
Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams
Khanna: You’ve got the DOJ releasing the names of survivors—which they are not allowed to do by law—but not releasing the FBI interview files with those same survivors. Those FBI interviews contain the names of other men: Wall Street tycoons and politicians…
December 23, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Khanna: You’ve got the DOJ releasing the names of survivors—which they are not allowed to do by law—but not releasing the FBI interview files with those same survivors. Those FBI interviews contain the names of other men: Wall Street tycoons and politicians…
Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams
There's no use in making the humanities relevant, @chatterton.bsky.social argues, because "the most useful lesson the humanities have to offer today is a profoundly countercultural one:"
Stop Trying to Make the Humanities ‘Relevant’
For humanities departments to continue to matter, they must challenge the modern world rather than accommodate it.
bit.ly
December 14, 2025 at 3:45 PM
There's no use in making the humanities relevant, @chatterton.bsky.social argues, because "the most useful lesson the humanities have to offer today is a profoundly countercultural one:"
Grateful to the Miami Book Fair for hosting me in conversation with one of my intellectual heroes, Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
November 22, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Grateful to the Miami Book Fair for hosting me in conversation with one of my intellectual heroes, Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams
The left’s embrace of moralized rhetoric might seem harmless, but to win back power, Democrats will need “precisely the kind of introspection and self-criticism that moralism precludes,” @chatterton.bsky.social argues.
The Left’s New Moralism Will Backfire
Under Trump, progressives have embraced the rhetoric of “moral clarity.” It won’t help their cause.
bit.ly
November 13, 2025 at 4:15 PM
The left’s embrace of moralized rhetoric might seem harmless, but to win back power, Democrats will need “precisely the kind of introspection and self-criticism that moralism precludes,” @chatterton.bsky.social argues.
Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams
»Camus hätte dieses Buch geliebt.« Mehr zu »Toxische Gerechtigkeit« von Thomas Chatterton Williams (übersetzt aus dem Englischen von Stephan Kleiner):
www.hanser-literaturverlage.de/buch/thomas-...
www.hanser-literaturverlage.de/buch/thomas-...
October 30, 2025 at 7:22 AM
»Camus hätte dieses Buch geliebt.« Mehr zu »Toxische Gerechtigkeit« von Thomas Chatterton Williams (übersetzt aus dem Englischen von Stephan Kleiner):
www.hanser-literaturverlage.de/buch/thomas-...
www.hanser-literaturverlage.de/buch/thomas-...
My conversation with the brilliant
Coleman Hughes is now available at
@thefp.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
www.thefp.com/p/the-great-...
Coleman Hughes is now available at
@thefp.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
www.thefp.com/p/the-great-...
The ‘Great Awokening’ and the Death of Nuance with Thomas Chatterton Williams
The social commentator on how America’s racial optimism gave way to moral panic.
www.thefp.com
October 23, 2025 at 3:32 PM
My conversation with the brilliant
Coleman Hughes is now available at
@thefp.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
www.thefp.com/p/the-great-...
Coleman Hughes is now available at
@thefp.com and wherever you get your podcasts.
www.thefp.com/p/the-great-...
Really an extraordinary pair of lectures and public conversation on the subject of joy in dark times between Roger Berkowitz and Teju Cole at the @hannaharendtcenter.bsky.social at Bard this morning.
October 16, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Really an extraordinary pair of lectures and public conversation on the subject of joy in dark times between Roger Berkowitz and Teju Cole at the @hannaharendtcenter.bsky.social at Bard this morning.
My conversation with Jon Haidt at the 92NY. This was one of my favorite discussions so far: youtu.be/iVDi9T5Rwj0?...
Thomas Chatterton Williams with Jonathan Haidt: Summer of Our Discontent
YouTube video by The 92nd Street Y, New York
youtu.be
October 13, 2025 at 3:40 PM
My conversation with Jon Haidt at the 92NY. This was one of my favorite discussions so far: youtu.be/iVDi9T5Rwj0?...
Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams
A few days ago, I finished reading #SummerOfOurDiscontent by @chatterton.bsky.social.
Let’s just say that I found myself quoting C+C Music Factory in my write-up, and that is not a bad thing.
Thoughts & quotes ⬇️.
#books #ThomasChattertonWilliams
Let’s just say that I found myself quoting C+C Music Factory in my write-up, and that is not a bad thing.
Thoughts & quotes ⬇️.
#books #ThomasChattertonWilliams
October 9, 2025 at 8:57 PM
A few days ago, I finished reading #SummerOfOurDiscontent by @chatterton.bsky.social.
Let’s just say that I found myself quoting C+C Music Factory in my write-up, and that is not a bad thing.
Thoughts & quotes ⬇️.
#books #ThomasChattertonWilliams
Let’s just say that I found myself quoting C+C Music Factory in my write-up, and that is not a bad thing.
Thoughts & quotes ⬇️.
#books #ThomasChattertonWilliams
Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams
What does cancel culture mean in the year 2025? Michael Moynihan chats with @chatterton.bsky.social and John Wood Jr. at #freespeechsummit2025
October 4, 2025 at 9:54 PM
What does cancel culture mean in the year 2025? Michael Moynihan chats with @chatterton.bsky.social and John Wood Jr. at #freespeechsummit2025
Spoke for three hours with Anna and Dasha🎙️🍷 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...
October 4, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Spoke for three hours with Anna and Dasha🎙️🍷 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...
Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams
“Just as the left used [George] Floyd’s death to justify and hasten all manner of political ends, the right is invoking [Charlie] Kirk’s name to advance illiberal aims and silence opponents,” @chatterton.bsky.social argues:
MAGA Finds Its George Floyd
Charlie Kirk isn’t the first martyr to be used as a cudgel.
bit.ly
October 2, 2025 at 7:15 PM
“Just as the left used [George] Floyd’s death to justify and hasten all manner of political ends, the right is invoking [Charlie] Kirk’s name to advance illiberal aims and silence opponents,” @chatterton.bsky.social argues:
I wrote about Charlie Kirk and George Floyd: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
MAGA Finds Its George Floyd
Charlie Kirk isn’t the first martyr to be used as a cudgel.
www.theatlantic.com
October 2, 2025 at 5:10 PM
I wrote about Charlie Kirk and George Floyd: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Search his name for yourself. Just endless examples without a single dissenting statement between them. You can scroll and see dozens and dozens of responses that all come to the same conclusion. As toxic as Twitter really is, I’ve never seen a dozen posts in a row with zero disagreement.
September 28, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Search his name for yourself. Just endless examples without a single dissenting statement between them. You can scroll and see dozens and dozens of responses that all come to the same conclusion. As toxic as Twitter really is, I’ve never seen a dozen posts in a row with zero disagreement.
Very hard to understand Trump and MAGA’s animus towards Comey. He’s the decisive factor in there ever even being a president Trump. You’d think he’d never have to buy a drink for the rest of his life in MAGAland.
September 28, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Very hard to understand Trump and MAGA’s animus towards Comey. He’s the decisive factor in there ever even being a president Trump. You’d think he’d never have to buy a drink for the rest of his life in MAGAland.
Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams
It's easier to win an argument with a genius than an idiot.
September 27, 2025 at 10:08 PM
It's easier to win an argument with a genius than an idiot.