We truly haven't learned anything.

I'll concede that the content has value; it was interesting and eye-opening and appropriately infuriating. I sincerely respect the author's years of effort and the comprehensive research invested into this book. Klinenberg's dedication to the subject is obvious, and I admire it.



However, his writing style was horrific: he was perpetually long-winded and unbelievably prone to redundancy, not qualities I'm searching for in nonfiction. He has no notion of conciseness—he could have conveyed all of the same information in a third of the page count. Also, the extremely academic style made it difficult for me to connect with the content more than superficially, which defeated a lot of the book's purpose, in my opinion. It's definitely not a book I would have either purchased or read were I not a bookish college freshman who dearly values my GPA.



There's been a play based off of the book, however; that I really might be interested in seeing.

I knew nothing about this heatwave, but unfortunately the conclusions were of no surprise to me.

As Global Warming continues to bite, conditions will worsen, and the usual people in society will suffer.

Klinenberg's "Heat Wave" is an engaging, interesting example of public sociology. The aim of the investigation is the 1995 heatwave in the city, which lasted roughly three days and killed several hundred people. Those who perished were disproportionately vulnerable and senior, without the support of family or friends to ensure their survival during the >100F spell.

The book is accessibly written, with each chapter investigating a different facet of the disaster. The book focuses on four phenomenon: those without social supports, the gulf between rich and marginalized, the city's attempts to PR the crisis away, and the various coverage produced by different media outlets.

All told, the volume provides interesting insight into how different communities thought about the disaster. It does little to separate epistemic from institutional from political influences, but that's largely the point: a crisis such as this emerges because of the way all of these different influences are stacked together.

Would recommend if you have an interest in public sociology, heat disasters, or social justice and disasters.

Assigned to read this book in college and loved it so much, I kept it. Heartbreaking true story of the 1995 Chicago Heat Wave that killed dozens. Sad...

I just saw Cooked, a documentary film running in the Environmental Film Fest that is based on this book. The film is still a work in progress so only about 20 minutes were screened but it's a fascinating topic.

Not cool

3/5

As climate change continues to alter our world, cities like Chicago will be at the forefront. A city harshly divided by socioeconomic barriers, lack of infrastructure, & overt racism, Chicago's 1995 heatwave is a study in the consequences of policy inequality.

Black folks, the elderly, the poor, & especially any combination of these factors led to statistically significant higher mortality during the week long scorcher. The book highlights the lack of updated power grids, social isolation, & overall policy neglect that contributed to an astonishing amount of deaths in just 7 days.

This really was a difficult read -- I understand it originally started as a sociology thesis (?), so that tracks, as it was very dry & repetitive. However, this highlights the reality that capitalist/western societies are completely unprepared for the catastrophe that is climate change.

Fascinating exploration of the failures that lead to so many deaths in Chicago's 1995 heat wave. Lessons we still have not learned today.

Overall, I'd have to say this is a good read. Many reviews are quite upset or disappointed with the author and the writing style. If you're into social sciences, this will be up your alley. As for me, I'm much less interested in the social disaster that resulted from the heat wave and more interested in the meteorological factors of this particular event. Heat waves are known by atmospheric scientists as the silent killer...and for good reason. They don't get the drama and ratings that more visually striking events (hurricanes, tornadoes, et al.) garner for ratings. But, social science is the main focus and if you're after a read of that ilk, give this book a try.

It's July of 1995 and Chicago residents have been warned that the heat dome which had already impacted the Great Plains would drive the temperatures and humidity into the high 90's to even over 100°. As July's end neared, it was moving east and over 700 elderly and poor residents had died from the heat-related illnesses.

Klinenberg provides a detailed dissection of a city government that failed it's residents. Many services already privatized in order to save money. Cutting methods and failing to coordinate services - that's if the services were still being financed. The written emergency plan was stated in such a way that administrations had to approve any requests for additional assistance or to even activate the policy. Most did not believe their people or were on vacation with no way to get in touch with them or no substitute coverage.

Elderly and poor who were unable to afford the cost of air conditioning - if they had an air conditioner as many of the windows were either unable to be opened or the resident was afraid to open it due to nearby crime as well as the fact that the generators/grid of the local utility, Consolidated Edison, repeatedly failed. It was the same fear that kept the victims in their apartments when they could availed themselves to city cooling centers - if they could find transportation to them.

Even media failed them as journalists were more concerned with maintaining their connections with government contacts rather than actually report the blunt and stark truth of what was occurring. Photos of trailers full of bodies as well as photos of police removing bodies from their patrol cars at the ME's morgue helped portray the disaster in action but so did the children running through the spray of open hydrants (which didn't help the availability of water). Stories in the suburban editions shifted away from the poor, the elderly, the Black and Hispanic of the inner city and focused more on local interests.

City government blamed ConEd for the power losses as well as the deceased themselves for their own behavior deficiencies. Blamed the families for not checking on their relatives. Religious and local communities for not checking on their neighbors and parishioners. Blamed the County Medical Examiner for exaggerating the deaths - who was eventually supported by other regional ME's and the CDC itself declaring that the heat caused excessive deaths. And of course, the heat itself while patting themselves on the back for their crisis performance (which actually failed abysmally). Even the report that evaluated the response was released but the title Mayor's Commission on Extreme Weather Conditions made most people ignore it.

The book sadly ends with the burial of the 68 victims still unclaimed on August 25th. A mass grave is their final resting place and besides the pastor who said a few words, a local historian and granddaughter, there were fifteen journalists hoping for a ending to the story.

Overall, the tale is rather dry but even more depressing is the fact that - for the most part - very little has changed overall. Services to the poor and elderly are still among the first program cut when the city needs to save money. Those that do provide assistance are usually overworked and the elderly/poor are dying alone, abandoned and invisible until something drastic and horrifying happens.

An excellent resource for those working in providing services to the elderly and the poor especially with extreme weather conditions on the increase.

2022-238

Fascinating application of community and connectedness - to death and destruction of both.

Read all but chapter 4 on government. For sociology of disasters class. Pretty interesting.