As national and global politics become a perpetual fever-dream — the sort that might have been experienced by a delirious Thomas de Quincey or Hunter Thompson — it's almost soothing to contemplate even the recent past.

Well, maybe "soothing" isn't the word. But consider a just-out book called "The Revolution of Robert Kennedy: From Power to Protest After JFK." Author John R. Bohrer offers a flowing and detailed account of the dramatic and paradigm-shifting three years in Robert's life and mission from his brother John's assassination until his own death. Not only did those years coincide with whirlwind developments in American culture, but Robert's reinvention and resurgence also shaped them.

On Friday in The Spa at Norwich Inn, the Board of Trustees of Otis Library host Bohrer as their 15th Annual Evening with an Author. The event benefits Otis Library and includes a silent auction, cocktails, dinner, Bohrer's keynote remarks, and a copy of the book.

John Bohrer, Otis Library's Evening with an Author, 6 p.m. Friday, The Spa at Norwich Inn, 607 Thames St., Norwich; $125; (860) 536-3795, banksquarebooks.com.