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. Praise for John A. Jenkins’ The Partisan: The Life of William Rehnquist “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 “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 “Meticulously researched.” —Slate “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 “A highly readable, penetrating, and challenging re-examination of the U.S. Supreme Court's sixteenth chief justice and succeeds with its concise summarization of Rehnquist's conservative judicial views while using newly available sources to look at his private life and formative experiences. In the process, Jenkins takes the reader to the doorway of a deeply profound question on how America's Constitution works: to what extent is a justice appointed on the basis of legal merit in a democratically transparent process versus a selection shrouded mostly in politics and private bargaining.” —John W. Dean, author of The Rehnquist Choice and Nixon White House Counsel “Jenkins illuminates both the human side of Rehnquist . . . and his judicial philosophy.” —Booklist “Jenkins uncovers some nuggets about the private man, some amusing . . . some startling.” —Kirkus John A. Jenkins is a multi-award-winning journalist, author, publisher, and entrepreneur. With a specialty in partisans and power, he’s 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, the most widely visited and highly engaged law-and-policy site on the