Caroline Henderson moved to a farm near Eva, Oklahoma, in 1907. During the next six decades, she and her husband, Will, endured the hardship of depressions and the dustbowl on their farm, with really only one bumper crop to show for their labors. Turner's overall introduction, as well as his introduction to each section, does well to place Henderson's life in context. She had great dreams for her life, both as a literate woman and as a farmer but by the end of her life, she is disillusioned and considers herself a failure.
Most of Henderson's farming experience demonstrates that dreams can save a person from an otherwise mean life. In 1917 she wrote, "The fact that we cannot see the end does not relieve us of our obligation to push forward, to gain every inch we can in humanity's forward march." As a young farm wife, she met challenges with inventiveness, and hardship with strong will. Even as crops withered and neighbors moved away, she finds beauty in flowers and friendship in animals. However, too many failed crops and dried-up dreams took their toll on Henderson's optimism. In 1952, she wrote in a letter to her daughter, "Every day seems to bring some new sorrow in these last years of fruitless effort and disappointment." With dreams dashed, Henderson loses all sense of proportion and she reads each setback as catastrophe.
"Letters from the Dust Bowl" is as heartbreaking as it is inspirational. Al Turner is right; it's a very well written book.