American Summer: Before Air-Conditioning (1998)
When I read something like this, the question that springs to mind is whether it was actually hotter, or whether the norms of dress forced people to dress less practically and suffer the heat more.  It's interesting, because there seems to be a marked contrast between the daytime (linen suits) and the night time (people sleeping in their underwear on fire escapes).<p>To within a rounding error none of the houses in my part of Boston have central air, and while people complain, nobody is truly miserable when it hits 33/90 and upwards to body temperature.  I don't think we've hit 38/100 this year.<p>I'll concede that we have better refrigeration, and a diet composed entirely of iced-tea, freezer pops, and cold bear is a possibility.  Still I don't see anybody wearing a linen suit or a straw hat.<p>On the other hand, now that some people do have air conditioning, it seems like it would be dramatically less acceptable for people to sleep out on their porches or in the nearby park.