Hot Time in the Old Town: The Great Heat Wave of 1896 and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt

One of the worst natural disasters in American history, the 1896 New York City heat wave killed almost 1,500 people in ten oppressively hot days. The heat coincided with a pitched presidential contest between William McKinley and upstart Democrat William Jennings Bryan, who arrived in New York at the height of the catastrophe. Showing how Bryans hopes for the presidency began to flag just as a bright, young police commissioner named Theodore Roosevelt was scrambling to aid the citys poor, Hot Time in the Old Town vividly captures both the birth of the Progressive Era and one of New Yorks greatestyet least-rememberedtragedies.