“Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death”: The Impact of America’s First Climate Crisis

As the result of a volcanic eruption halfway around the world, New England suffered a series of calamitous cold spells in 1816, evoking fears of starvation and forcing thousands of farmers to migrate. “Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death”: The Impact of America’s First Climate Crisis by John V. H. Dippel ’68 examines the “year without a summer” that caused many Americans to question their religious convictions and propelled the country’s transition to manufacturing.