Wellfleet Public Library

Summer ‘71

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 '7l-a pivotal, operatic season of hope and despair, missed opportunities and era-changing decisions. More than a half-century later, it's difficult to overstate the importance of events that defined

That the American experience during that fateful five- month period spanning May to September 1971. Summer of 71 brings it all to the page through first- person accounts that are only now becoming available: the papers, diaries, and oral histories of key players. Award-winning journalist and author John A. Jenkins witnessed many of the events himself, and draws on a multitude of sources, including Nixon's White House tapes, to tell the story of that time as no one else could. Here is both a fascinating, brilliantly researched read in its own right, and a critical lens through which to view today's political discord.