Five Months That Changed America
From award-winning journalist and author John A. Jenkins comes a revolutionary exploration of the summer before Watergate—a parallel world of a half-century ago when America faced events and crises strikingly similar to those of today—told through the lives and words of those who lived it.
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About the Book
Inflation rages. Crime is rising. Abortion rights take center stage at the Supreme Court. China poses an existential threat. Black lives are under attack. The president battles the press as he seeks to subvert not just the political order but the rule of law itself.
This is the Summer of ’71 — a pivotal, operatic season of hope and despair, missed opportunities and era-changing decisions.
More than a half-century later, the importance of events that defined the American experience during that fateful five-month period spanning May to September 1971 is difficult to overstate. Summer of ’71 brings it all to the page through first-person accounts only now becoming available: the papers, diaries, and oral histories of key players.
Award-winning journalist John A. Jenkins witnessed many of the events himself, and draws on Nixon’s White House tapes and a multitude of sources to tell the story of that time as no one else could.
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Critical Acclaim
Reviews for The Partisan: The Life of William Rehnquist — A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
“Engaging and perceptive.”
The New York Times
“Chronicles the life of one of the court’s most important modern justices…worth reading and considering, especially today, as voters contemplate the alternative futures of the court.”
Los Angeles Times
“The Partisan: The Life of William Rehnquist is no quick hit job. Mr. Jenkins and his research assistants pored through Rehnquist archives and the papers of other justices to illuminate some little-known corners of Chief Justice Rehnquist’s life.”
The Wall Street Journal
“The first full biography of the Wisconsin native…thoroughly researched…based in part on a lengthy profile from 1985 by Jenkins, who conducted the last major interview given by the private Rehnquist.”
CNN.com
“Meticulously researched.”
Slate
“Sure to incite passions among both conservative and liberal court watchers.”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“Jenkins’s explorations are fascinating and break new ground; they fill out the profile of an enormously powerful and significant man.”
The Nation
“Accessible and satisfying…Jenkins finds the right balance between the law and the man, the legal and the human.”
Publishers Weekly
“Recommended for readers interested in the Supreme Court and U.S. politics.”
Library Journal
“What made Rehnquist tick? Jenkins, who did a remarkable—and rare—interview with the justice in a 1985 profile in the New York Times Magazine, provides a tantalizing clue.”
Washington Lawyer
“A highly readable, penetrating, and challenging re-examination of the U.S. Supreme Court’s sixteenth chief justice.”
Maricopa Lawyer
Author Events
Washington, D.C.
Politics and Prose
5015 Connecticut Avenue NW · Washington, DC 20008
7:00 PM
Book launch. Moderated by Hilary Braseth, Executive Director of OpenSecrets. Free, first come first serve seating.
Washington, D.C.
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave SE · Washington, DC 20540
1:00 PM · Also webcast via Zoom
Sandwich, Massachusetts
Sandwich Public Library
142 Main St. · Sandwich, MA 02563
6:30 PM
Books available for purchase and signing. Sales handled by Titcomb’s Books.
Provincetown, Massachusetts
East End Books
389 Commercial St · Provincetown, MA 02657
6:00 PM
Groveland, Massachusetts
Langley-Adams Library
185 Main St · Groveland, MA 01834
1:00 PM
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Harvard Bookstore
1256 Massachusetts Ave · Cambridge, MA 02138
7:00 PM
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For Book Clubs
Summer of ’71 revisits five pivotal months in American history, when political unrest, media battles, public protest, and institutional power collided in ways that still echo today.
This guide is intended to spark thoughtful discussion and invite readers to reflect on the book’s themes, historical context, and modern parallels.
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