Washington Post | By Vanessa Williamson and Theda Skocpol. Vanessa Williamson (PhD '15) is a fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and author of the new book Read My Lips: Why Americans Are Proud to Pay Taxes (Princeton University Press, 2017). Theda Skocpol is the Victor S. Thomas professor of government and sociology at Harvard University and director of the Scholars Strategy Network.