Joshua Cohen and Corey Robin discuss the black nationalism at the heart of Thomas’s conservative jurisprudence—and what it means for those on the left who often dismiss the justice’s use of race. Editor’s Note: Corey Robin recently discussed his new book, The Enigma of Clarence Thomas , with Boston Review co-editor-in-chief Joshua Cohen. Robin is a professor of political science at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, the author of The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump and Fear: The History of a Political Idea , and a Boston Review contributor since 2001. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of their conversation. Joshua Cohen: Corey Robin has written a wonderful book on The Enigma of Clarence Thomas . It is powerfully written, carefully argued, and a model of interpretive generosity. It’s fair to say, Corey, that you don’t agree much with Clarence Thomas. But the book underscores that it is much more important for people to understand Clarence Thomas’s thinking than it is to know that Corey Robin doesn’t agree with Clarence Thomas. I want to identify three main strands in the book, which we can discuss in turn. The first is intellectual biography. […]

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