the dangerous summer

A Real-Life Bullfighting Rivalry Captured Through Hemingway’s Last Great Reportage

The Dangerous Summer is based on Ernest Hemingway’s reporting for Life magazine about the bullfighting season of 1959. It follows the rivalry between veteran matador Antonio Ordóñez and the younger Luis Miguel Dominguín as they compete across Spain in a series of dangerous and artful duels. Hemingway’s narrative captures not only the physical risk of the fights but also the psychological drama, honor, and pride involved. The book stands as a late-career return to the themes of bravery, death, and ritual that haunted much of his earlier work.