The Hottest Summers

Extreme heat is the deadliest weather in America, and most of the people it kills never make the news. In the first days of July 2021, a heat dome settled over the Pacific Northwest, a region where most homes had no air conditioning. Fred Fah, a 66-year-old disabled Air Force veteran, died in his trailer home in Milwaukie, Oregon. He was one of hundreds. The Hottest Summers follows how a few days of record temperatures became a public health disaster, and why heat deaths are so often misread, undercounted or never counted at all. This is a book of reporting, not alarm. It looks at what happens when the nights stop cooling, how outdoor workers and prisoners are exposed to heat, why classrooms and apartments lack cooling, how people die alone behind closed doors, and what happens when the power fails. It also covers the cities and counties that are fighting back with heat officers, cooling centers, tree planting and warning systems that have been shown to work. Inside you will find: How heat kills the body, and why the death certificate often misses it Who is most at risk, from older adults living alone to field workers Why some neighborhoods run hotter than others, and what that means for public health The fight over federal workplace heat rules What communities have done that saved lives If you want to understand the real human cost of rising temperatures, and what can be done about it, start here.