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Authors attending the East Hampton Author's Night on August 12, 2017.

All photos by Sonia Moskowitz/WireImage.

Robert Caro won his first of two Pulitzers for The Power Broker, his exhaustive 1974 biography of Robert Moses. His second was for volume three of his still-in-the-works study of Lyndon B. Johnsons life and career. He has few rivals in his understanding of giants of government and New Yorks building codes. When asked at Saturday nights East Hampton Library's Authors night if Donald Trump followed in the hallowed tradition of such New York-Washington power brokers, Caro smiled, shook his head, and said no.

Caro recounted a particularly stirring moment of Johnsons presidency, when the 36th president addressed Congress to introduce the Voting Rights Act: Thats when he gave this memorable speech, when he said, All of us have to overcome injustice, and we shall overcome. And Congress rose to its feet cheering and passed the Voting Rights Act. So when I say theyre rolling it back now . . . what a tragedy! I probably feel it in that context more than most people.

Undeterred by light rain, more than 2,500 guests descended on the muddy field adjacent to the Maidstone Club in East Hampton to mingle with movie stars, politicians, and authors, buy their books, and in turn support the towns library at the 13th annual event. As news of increasingly violent protests in Virginia unfolded in real time on the crowds smart phones, politics seemed to be on everyones mind.

What is Trump trying to roll back today? Caro asked rhetorically. Medicarethats Lyndon Johnson; Headstartthats Lyndon Johnson; immigrationthats Lyndon Johnson. He signed all those acts to protect students loans. . . . Everything that Trump is rolling back, Im writing about being passed by Lyndon Johnson!

In the East Hampton Village, history and legacy are treasured and preserved with a fervor at odds with the well-curated sleepiness of the town. Unsurprising, then, that many of the writers at Authors Night were promoting books that drew on the past to make sense of the tumultuous present. (The events literary luminary headlinersand honorary co-chairswere Alec Baldwin and Hilaria Baldwin. Theres nothing more important than the library, Alec Baldwin told Vanity Fair.)

Chris Whipple, author of The New York Times best seller The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency, recalled the latter days of Nixons presidency to emphasize the importance of the office today. If you think back to the final days of Richard Nixon, when Nixon was talking to the oil portraits in the West Wing, and [Chief of Staff] Al Hague . . . decided to keep the nuclear codes away from him, we may be getting to that point with this president, he said.

Whipple's book, an authoritative look at the office of White House chief of staff, was released mere months before President Trump fired Reince Priebus. Nobody was more surprised than I was," Whipple said about the remarkable timeliness. "But its certainly kept me in demand.

Several tables over, across from the caterers and at the farthest possible point from the bustle around the Baldwins, the evenings most unlikely author stood ready to greet her fans. Ann Coulter was quick to embrace the distance, both physical and ideological, between her and her fellow scribes.

I think Robert Caro and I are the only ones who wrote our own books, so I dont really consider myself one of the literary luminaries, she said.

Coulter was there to promote her new book, In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome!, a title so obviously at odds at an event thrown and mostly attended by the liberal elite, and which featured books by not one but two Kennedys. Coulter said she was not exactly welcomed with open arms by the East Hampton powers that be. I wont complain, but the library did put up a huge fight about having me and refused to let me advertise . . . so I think there would be a few more books to sell if people were allowed to know I was here, but the ones who did find meover here in the back cornerwere such lovely people . . .

But I am not at all upset about it, Coulter said, not without irony.

Before the supply of ros waned, and guests and authors made their way to the private dinner parties following the reception, Dick Cavett was signing copies of his latest book, Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic Moments and Assorted Hijinks. He mused about the prospect of interviewing the president. I would love to get him across the table, he said. He even had an opener in mind: You dont happen to have your tax returns on you, do you? I think Id open with that.

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Justin Bishop/Vanity Fair

Justin Bishop/Vanity Fair

Justin Bishop/Vanity Fair

Justin Bishop/Vanity Fair

Justin Bishop/Vanity Fair

Justin Bishop/Vanity Fair

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Robert Caro, Ann Coulter, Dick Cavett, and More Weighed In on the Trump Era at East Hampton Library's Authors Night - Vanity Fair