Inflation rages. Crime is rising. China poses an existential threat. Four planes are hijacked by terrorists in a coordinated action. Abortion rights take center stage at the Supreme Court. Black lives are under attack. Capitol bombers are on trial. Mass arrests are ordered as protesters take to the streets. A scheming, paranoid president seeking reelection battles the press and seeks to subvert not just the political order but the rule of law itself. This was the SUMMER OF '71. The summer before Watergate, an operatic summer of political hope and also despair. President Nixon was successfully navigating crises, from China to abortion, from environmental crises, labor turmoil, inflation, and epic Supreme Court cases and controversies. It was the summer before the release of The Pentagon Papers, which would trigger Nixon to plummet to his lowest depths. Above all, it was the last clear chance that politicians and policy makers would govern with civility and consensus. Summer of '71 scrupulously examines this turning point in history when America had a chance to move forward towards a political climate of cooperation, helmed by a president who, incongruously as it turns out, was successful playing the part of a conciliatory president. Nixon had already achieved notable successes - including major environmental and consumer protections, and the opening to China. He aspired to do much more on both the domestic and international fronts, This is a fascinating, compelling, and bittersweet snapshot of The United States at one of its most profound turning points. Author and lawyer John Jenkins, who spent years in Washington, DC and is the founder of More than a half-century later, it is hard to overstate the importance of events that defined the American experience during one fateful five-month period spanning May to September 1971. America faced societal and political upheaval. The characters in this real-life drama were complex - some virtuous, others profoundly flawed, but all of them dramatic in their own ways, and each compellingly drawn.