The Summer of Death

The Great Heat Wave of 1936 and the Making of Modern-Day America

Geoff Williams

A 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.

In 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.

This 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.

This 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.

The 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.

Filled with vivid detail and characters as intense as the oppressive heat itself, The Summer of Death is the definitive narrative history about this paradigm changing season. In the tradition of Timothy Egan’s The Worst Hard Time and Edward P. Kohn’s Hot Time in the Old Town, The Summer of Death reveals a unique and vital chapter of American history, one that could portend dire consequences for our future.

Geoff Williams is the author of C.C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America. For most of his life, Williams has lived less than an hour away from the Great Flood's epicenter in Dayton, Ohio.

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Endorsements & Reviews

"Williams vividly writes about the Great Heat Wave. A highly recommended cautionary tale." Library Journal

"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." Booklist

“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.” Kirkus Reviews

"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. The Summer of Death pays respect to the everyday people on the front lines of battling extreme weather." Jen Carfagno, meteorologist, The Weather Channel

"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." Eric Klinenberg, author of Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of DIsaster in Chicago

“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. The Summer of Death 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!" Kenn Kaufman, author of The Birds That Audubon Missed

Praise for Geoff Williams

“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.” The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"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.” Booklist

“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.”
Minneapolis Star Tribune