{"product_id":"the-summer-of-death-the-great-heat-wave-of-1936-and-the-making-of-modern-day-america","title":"The Summer of Death: The Great Heat Wave of 1936 and the Making of Modern-Day America","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"As a meteorologist, I'm always talking about dew points and jet streams, but it's the weather's impact on people that truly matters. My first impression of the book was visceral: 1936 really was the Summer of Death. It wasn't just the 110-degree days; it was the staggering, heartbreaking number of people who didn't stand a chance. By moving past the maps and into the stories of those who went through it, Williams adds a raw human element to our planet's deadliest extreme weather. It's a compelling look at how heat can quietly dismantle normal lives. We've learned a lot since 1936, but as climate change intensifies extreme weather, we have to wonder if we've learned enough. \n\u003ci\u003eThe \u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eSummer of Death \u003c\/i\u003epays respect to the everyday people on the front lines of battling extreme weather.\"-- \" \n\u003cb\u003eJen Carfagno, meteorologist, The Weather Channel\u003c\/b\u003e\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Exceptionally hot weather, back when most Americans couldn't escape it. Williams summarizes what little scientists knew of Earth's temperature cycles and the state of cooling technology, but mostly he delivers chronological chapters of what reporters documented: victim after victim suffering and often dying during hot weather. Readers will encounter a steady stream of vivid, usually heartrending anecdotes. A breathless account of a Depression-era heat wave, long-forgotten.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eGeoff Williams \u003c\/b\u003eis the author of \n\u003ci\u003eC.C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America \u003c\/i\u003eand \n\u003ci\u003eWashed Away: \u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003ci\u003e How the Great Flood of 1913, America's Most Widespread Natural Disaster, Terrorized a Nation and Changed It Forever, \u003c\/i\u003e also available from Pegasus Books \n\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e He lives near Dayton, Ohio.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003ePraise for Geoff Williams\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Williams chronicles the devastation in a voice reminiscent of Mark Twain and James Thurber. Williams proves a marvelous storyteller; Thurberian wit and whimsy saturate the pages. Williams' crisp and colorful vernacular offers valuable insights on the causes of the Great Flood.\"-- \" \n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Cleveland Plain Dealer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Williams weaves tragic and heroic stories of people in the various affected states into an almost hour-by-hour account of the deadly storm. This quick-reading history published for the storm's centennial should interest readers who enjoyed Erik Larson's Isaac's Storm or Simon Winchester's A Crack in the Edge of the World about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.\"-- \" \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The meticulously researched account covers dramatic rescues, sorrowful endings, dishonest scams and political machinations. Williams builds a convincing argument that we continue to ignore lessons concerning the treatment of our beleaguered planet.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e -- \" \n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eMinneapolis Star Tribune\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The great heat wave of 1936 might not loom large in our collective view of history, but it had profound impacts on life in the United States and Canada, creating changes that still echo today. \n\u003ci\u003eThe Summer of Death\u003c\/i\u003e is a brilliant look at that event, filled with meticulously researched facts but reading like the most exciting page-turning fiction. This is history at its finest!\"-- \n\u003cb\u003eKenn Kaufman, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Birds That Audubon Missed\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Williams examines the daily experiences of people during the heat wave as they attempted to stay cool in a time when air conditioning was not in widespread use. Williams includes related deaths to emphasize the all-encompassing nature of the heat [and] spotlights strange occurrences, debates over appropriate clothing, and inventive ways folks came up with to beat the heat. A fascinating addition to literature on historic weather phenomena.\"-- \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"What would happen if a searingly hot and tropically humid weather system settled over communities across the United States and, in a freak of nature, lingered there, day after day, overwhelming our capacity to respond? In this stunning, important work of American history, Geoff Williams reminds us that we already know the answer. We ignore it at our peril.\" -- \n\u003cb\u003eEric Klinenberg, author of \u003ci\u003eHeat Wave: A Social Autopsy of DIsaster in Chicago\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Williams vividly writes about the Great Heat Wave. A highly recommended cautionary tale.\"-- \n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA riveting historic narrative that tells the iconic story of the great heat wave that ravaged the continent in the last gasps of the Dust Bowl.\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 1936, after one of the coldest winters on record, North America experienced a heat wave that remains unmatched today. Thanks to a combination of an unusually warm sea surface in the Atlantic and Pacific, stagnating high-pressure, drought, and poor farming techniques, temperatures soared across virtually every state (and the territory of Alaska) for months. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis summer, the sun aimed its deadly rays at more than 11,000 Americans and 1,000 Canadians. Air conditioning was uncommon, workers' rights were few, and in an age before high blood pressure medication, a lot of middle-aged adults, toiling in the sun, were literally working themselves to death. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis was a summer in which there was almost no escape from the 100-plus temperatures, and woe to those who tried. Men, women, and children rushed into rivers to cool off, only to drown. Desperate people slept on roofs to catch a breeze, only to roll over and plummet to their deaths. Young and old, rich and poor, human and animal, it didn't really matter. If the heat wanted you, it was going to get you. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe heat wave of 1936 sparked massive social changes and technological advances, as well as improvements in health care, and it ignited an ongoing impassioned national dialogue about climate change that continues, to varying degrees, to this day. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFilled with vivid detail and characters as intense as the oppressive heat itself, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Summer of Death\u003c\/i\u003e is the definitive narrative history about this paradigm changing season. In the tradition of Timothy Egan's \n\u003ci\u003eThe Worst Hard Time\u003c\/i\u003e and Edward P. Kohn's \n\u003ci\u003eHot Time in the Old Town, The Summer of Death\u003c\/i\u003e reveals a unique and vital chapter of American history, one that could portend dire consequences for our future.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/01\/2026 (EAN 9798897101252, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/01\/2026 (EAN 9798897101252, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 04\/01\/2026 pg. 79 (EAN 9798897101252, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003eWilliams, Geoff\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eGeoff Williams \u003c\/b\u003eis the author of \n\u003ci\u003eC.C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America \u003c\/i\u003eand \n\u003ci\u003eWashed Away: \u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003ci\u003e How the Great Flood of 1913, America's Most Widespread Natural Disaster, Terrorized a Nation and Changed It Forever, \u003c\/i\u003e also available from Pegasus Books \n\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e He lives near Dayton, Ohio.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Pegasus Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496059437334,"sku":"9798897101252","price":42.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9798897101252.jpg?v=1783052176","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/the-summer-of-death-the-great-heat-wave-of-1936-and-the-making-of-modern-day-america","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}