Author Talk with John A. Jenkins: Summer of '71

Titcomb's Bookshop and the Sandwich Public Library welcome award-winning journalist and author John A. Jenkins to speak about his new book Summer of '71: Five Months That Changed America (pub 6/30/26) on Tuesday, July 7th at 6:30 PM at Sandwich Public Library.

Books will be for sale at the event, and Jenkins will sign them after his presentation. Those who cannot attend may order a signed copy here.

Free RSVP is requested and can be completed on this page or by calling Titcomb's Bookshop at 508-888-2331.

ABOUT THE BOOK

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.

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, it’s difficult to overstate the importance of events that defined the American experience during that fateful five-month period spanning May to September 1971. On May Day, President Nixon orchestrates a massive police-military response to disrupt the biggest anti-war demonstration in history. Two days later, the Supreme Court announces that it will take up Roe v. Wade. In the weeks and months that follow, friction escalates between the police and the Black Panthers, Congress debates universal healthcare, Attica prisoners riot, and the New York Times publishes the Pentagon Papers—a turning point that ultimately dooms Nixon’s presidency and his legacy.

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John A. Jenkins is a multi-award-winning journalist, author, publisher, and entrepreneur. With a specialty in partisans and power, he is the author of The Partisan: The Life of William Rehnquist, and Summer of ’71. He has written hundreds of features for major magazines in the U.S. and abroad, including The New
York Times Magazine, GQ, and The Washington Monthly. A 4-time recipient of the American Bar Association's Gavel Award Certificate of Merit, one of the highest awards in legal journalism, he is the founder of Law Street Media, one of the most widely visited and highly engaged law-and-policy sites on the web. Prior to starting Law Street, Jenkins served for 15 years as President & Publisher of CQ Press, the leading political science textbook and reference publishers. Currently, he co-leads the predictive-AI start-
up PoliScio Analytics, which he co-founded in 2022. He lives on the
East Coast. Visit him at JohnaJenkins.com and Summerof71.com.

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