a dramatic and moving account of ordinary people

books:


	• The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl Timothy Egan Mariner Books, 2006 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 166 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Fascinating

I just finished this book and it was marvelous. It is a complete account of a time so long forgotten. The 1930's and the Dust Bowl years intermingled with the worst depression ever makes for some vibrant history. I have fallen in love with this period of US history. The story as told by mister Egan, made me want to travel to this area and see for myself what is still standing. Well worth the time casting your eyeballs upon this great book. The people who decided to live there despite the torrid dust were quite remarkable.

Humbling history

Puts this era in perspective with the Great Depression and the growth of America. A few weeks of $4 gas is no match for real hard times.

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Outstanding!

It's one thing to have heard about the dust bowl through obscure references. It's another thing to hear the pain and suffering it caused to the people who lived through it. Incredible book and I wish I hadn't given it away...I would read it again.

a dramatic and moving account of ordinary people

This is an excellent read, full of great detail. There were many things I had no idea about the dust bowl, such as the dust pneumonia and static electricity. It was heart breaking to read about these hard working people devastated by the havoc of the depression and the environmental problems. I found the account of the individuals quite moving. The effects of removing the native grasses to plant wheat was especially interesting.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years
of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since.
Timothy Egan's critically acclaimed account rescues this iconic chapter
of American history from the shadows in a tour de force of historical
reportage. Following a dozen families and their communities through
the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells of their desperate attempts to
carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the
death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe,
Egan does equal justice to the human characters who become
his heroes, "the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he
opens up with urgency and respect" (New York Times).

In an era that promises ever-greater natural disasters, The Worst
Hard Time is "arguably the best nonfiction book yet" (Austin Statesman
Journal) on the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited
upon our land and a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of
trifling with nature.

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