Forgetting the Victims: 2003 Paris Heat Wave

In the age of climate change and global pandemics how do we remember the victims? University of Madison, Wisconsin historian Richard C. Keller examines this question through his study of the 2003 heat wave in Paris. This was the worst natural disaster in French history claiming some 15,000 lives. In his book, Fatal Isolation: The Devastating Paris Heat Wave of 2003, Keller explains the myriad ways in which victims were forgotten and the disaster was misremembered. From the science of counting the dead to historically rooted animosity toward marginalized, elderly women, Keller unpacks the causes and consequences of the skewed memory of the 2003 heave wave.