Noshing With William Anderson – June 1, 2023

Ira's Everything Bagel

Author, The Price of Perfect

This week, Ira spoke with William Anderson, author of The Price of Perfect. In this frank episode of “Ira’s Everything Bagel,” William talks about why he decided to write about the “racial divide” as a novelist rather than as a non-fiction writer; why he wrote about being frank on both sides of the equation; why he was warned off about writing the book after submitting his first draft; how the tree in the novel is a metaphor for America; why social and traditional media have failed us on the race debate; and why the story that chronicles the conflict between a modern-day Atlanta developer and the preservation of a historic site rooted in the city’s dark history leaves him both optimistic and pessimistic about the future.

William, “Dub” Anderson is an author, journalist, and advertising man. He was born in Athens Georgia. William received his degree in Journalism as well as his Masters in Marketing at the University of Georgia. He started his writing career at Vogue Magazine and later contributed a political column to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He also became a copywriter for several advertising agencies. Over the years, he founded three ad agencies of his own, positioned at each one as creative director and senior writer.

William’s first book was The Wild Man From Sugar Creek, a biography of notorious Georgia governor Eugene Talmadge. It became one of the definitive histories of southern politics in the 1930’s.

He has been active in working toward solutions for Atlanta’s inner-city minorities, co-founding the Good Samaritan Scholarship, which provides funds and mentoring to promising young Black leaders. He was elected Chairman of The Atlanta Homeless Children Shelter, which serves urban homeless families and is a member of the organization seeking racial reconciliation called Hopeful and Honest. William is a member of Leadership Atlanta, which also seeks dialogue and understanding of racial and other urban issues. He also helped develop the marketing program for 100 Black Men’s first major Black college football fund raiser.