The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl | 
|  | | | Title: | The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl | | Author: | Timothy Egan | | Publisher: | Mariner Books | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 01 September, 2006 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0618773479 / 9780618773473 | | List Price: | $14.95 | | You Save: | $4.78 | | Amazon Price: | $10.17 | |
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Product Description
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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Customer Reviews:
• One Of The Best 31 July, 2008
I read a lot of non-fiction and history, and this is one of the best I've ever read. It's beautifully and powerfully written, sets the context for the dust bowl, and then describes the dust bowl itself in powerful and gripping imagery. My only tiny quibble is that I would have appreciated more epilogue (what happened to Dalhart? To Boise City? To Liberal?), but this is a tiny quibble in an outstanding, outstanding book.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2TLM016YV34OQ
• A Great Book About The Dust Bowl 03 August, 2008
My ex-girlfriend's dad recommended this book to me. He grew up in north-central Kansas during the latter part of the Dust Bowl and still remembers it. He lived in close enough proximity to remember walking to school with a handkerchief tied around his mouth and the gritty feel of the dust as it blew eastwards. Having read very little about the Dust Bowl and its effects upon America, I decided that I needed to learn more so I bought a copy for myself.
The author did a fantastic job of bringing the human and economic cost of the Dust Bowl to life in a way that few authors could. He personalized this tragic period through interviews with survivors of this period and by reproducing sections of a diary written by Don Hartwell, a Nebraska farmer. In the latter, you can feel the desperation and depression almost float up from the pages.
But the author does more than just bring the Dust Bowl to life. He reaches back to a time when the epicenter of the Dust Bowl was a vast desert of prairie grass populated by Comanche Indians and eventually ranches, in particular the XIT Ranch. In a sense of foreboding, he quotes the words of many a XIT cowboy who said "Don't plow it under" as people came from across the US and world to buy land, plant wheat and make their mark in life.
The author weaves into his story the various individuals and groups, for example, John McCarty or the Volga Germans, who all had their reasons for coming to "No Man's Land", staying there and eventually leaving. He writes of local government's inability to deal with the human and economic cost of farm foreclosures and business bankruptcies.
In short, this book is a keeper. It should be required reading in many high school and college classrooms. And for those of us well out of high school or college, this is an excellent book for those who want to learn more about this tragic period in American history.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AUQVG3Q5VEIRX
• Dust Bowl Refugees - What It Was Like For Those Who Didn't Leave 29 July, 2008
All I can say is 'wow.' The mental image I've always had of the Dust Bowl was that it was a single incident, one huge dust storm, a catastrophic event that destroyed farms, livestock and forced people to go West in search of a better life. I never understood that the dust storms went on for years, and I always thought the storms were contained within the South and the Midwest, but at one point, the dust storms reached Manhattan and even ships that were out at sea.
Reading this book gave me a completely new appreciation for what people had to endure. I highly recommend this book!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3NG7X4APIV649
• What Your Grandparents Did Not Tell You 18 August, 2008
When I asked my Grandparents about the dust bowl, they would not say much at all about it - other than they had some crop failures - once I read this book, I realized how horrible a time it really was and that my Grandparents just wanted to move on with their lives and not think about those "Dark" times. This book tells what it was like from the perspective of many people who lived through the dust bowl - from the joyous beginnings to the tragic end. The scope of the dust bowl was incredible and the effect it had on people was heart wrenching. The author even discusses how the dust bowl affected different cultural groups, such as the Germans from Russia immigrants who were discriminated against during both world wars. Once you read this book, you will have a better understanding of the region, what happened during the storms, how the storms affected the nation as a whole, and how the Government started to realize it had to help our nation conserve our soil. The references are great and provide a stepping stone to more information if one is interested. A hard subject, a good read, and worth its weight when I took it on a 60 mile hike through the mountains of Washington this summer.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1N6KGZ4FZVWIR
• Wonderfully Written History 23 July, 2008
This book, "The Worst Hard Time" is by far and away the most readable and compelling work out there regarding the tragedy and unbelievable sorrow and horror of the dust storms of the 1920's and 30's. Commonly referred to now as The Dust Bowl, the Southern Plains became a desert of dry blowing dirt after years of drought and abuse of the soil by profit hungry farmers. What Egan does so incredibly well in this book is he gives us both sides of the story. It is hard to argue that the farming techniques used by families in the Dust Bowl played a crucial element in this tragedy. But while acknowledging this, he also shows (with careful analysis into families and their terrifying situations) how natural it was - and how this could almost be seen as an inevitable outcome.
Egan gives countless gripping accounts of families and individuals, battling to survive some of the most terrible dust storms. Fighting just to breathe, and being unable to provide the food to sustain their families.. each account brings you closer to an understanding of just how hopeless life could have seemed for those living through this. Yet, amazingly what sticks out in my mind after reading this, are the examples of people who remained stubbornly optimistic and unwilling to relent to this disaster.
All in all, a wonderful account of a truly defining time in American history. Timothy Egan has done a truly wonderful job in portraying every aspect of the impact of the Dust Bowl.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AB84G6Z3STON7
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