The Pain and Glory of Summer
This essay reflects on the dual nature of summer, balancing its aesthetic beauty against the harsh realities of extreme heat, wildfires, and increased pest activity. The author notes how climate change has intensified the season's challenges, making the transition to autumn feel increasingly necessary.
Why it matters
It captures the growing cultural anxiety surrounding climate change and how it is fundamentally altering the experience of seasonal life.
It’s the worst season of all, and also the most beautiful.
Illustration by Lucy Murray Willis / The Atlantic August 10, 2026, 9:50 AM ET Share Save Summer always overstays its welcome by about a month. After the Fourth of July, which has its charms, nothing but a stretch of relentless heat lies ahead, reaching toward Labor Day, and I begin to yearn for fall. So does the grand, semi-malevolent intelligence that organizes American consumption: By mid-August, grocery stores are stocking their shelves with autumnal goods—pumpkin-pie Pop-Tarts, cinnamon-maple Frosted Flakes, pumpkin-spice cinnamon rolls in pressurized cardboard tubes. As I stroll through the aisles, I gaze wistfully at candy corn while the frosty supermarket air cools the sweat I worked up walking to the store beneath the blazing sun. Late September can’t arrive soon enough.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in