Hot time in the old town
Subtitle: the catastrophic heat wave that devastated Gilded Age New York
By: Edward P. Kohn.
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2010
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 288
ISBN-13: 9780465013364
Subjects: Roosevelt, Theodore, -- 1858-1919; Bryan, William Jennings, -- 1860-1925; Heat waves (Meteorology) -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- 19th century; Heat waves (Meteorology) -- Social aspects -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- 19th century; Mortality -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- 19th century; New York (N.Y.) -- History -- 1865-1898; New York (N.Y.) -- Environmental conditions; New York (N.Y.) -- Social conditions -- 19th century; New York (N.Y.) -- Biography
Genres: Biography
Description: The 1896 New York heat wave that killed almost 1,500 people in ten oppressively hot days coincided with a pitched presidential contest between William McKinley and the upstart Democrat William Jennings Bryan, who arrived in New York City at the height of the catastrophe. As historian Edward P. Kohn shows, Bryan's hopes for the presidency began to flag amidst the abhorrent heat just as a bright young police commissioner named Theodore Roosevelt was scrambling to mitigate the dangerously high temperatures.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Prologue: "The heated term"; title: Introduction: "Fighting for air"; title: "Cholera infantium"; title: "Slaughter Alley"; title: "Enemy's country"; title: "Inferno of brick and stone"; title: "Bryan spoke and his auditors fled"; title: "Some strange and pathetic scenes"; title: Conclusion: "A phenomenon"; title: Epilogue: "Hot time in the old town"; title: Postscript; title: Appendix A: Death certificates filed, August 4-17, 1895 and 1896; title: Appendix B: Who died : Manhattan, Tuesday, August 11.