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| Qty | Store | Section |
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| 3 | Beaverton | Americana- Great Plains |
| 4 | Burnside | Americana- Great Plains |
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The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
by Timothy Egan
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780618773473 |
Powells.com Staff Pick
A fresh, stirring look at the Dust Bowl and Depression, Timothy Egan follows the personal dramas of a handful of families, allowing their voices to reveal the environmental and human tragedies that rocked the nation. Grippingly detailed, this exciting yet compassionate work of history is difficult to put down. I enjoyed it to the last page.
Recommended by Michal, Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
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.
Review:
"Egan tells an extraordinary tale in this visceral account of how America's great, grassy plains turned to dust, and how the ferocious plains winds stirred up an endless series of 'black blizzards' that were like a biblical plague: 'Dust clouds boiled up, ten thousand feet or more in the sky, and rolled like moving mountains' in what became known as the Dust Bowl. But the plague was man-made, as Egan shows: the plains weren't suited to farming, and plowing up the grass to plant wheat, along with a confluence of economic disaster — the Depression — and natural disaster — eight years of drought — resulted in an ecological and human catastrophe that Egan details with stunning specificity. He grounds his tale in portraits of the people who settled the plains: hardy Americans and immigrants desperate for a piece of land to call their own and lured by the lies of promoters who said the ground was arable. Egan's interviews with survivors produce tales of courage and suffering: Hazel Lucas, for instance, dared to give birth in the midst of the blight only to see her baby die of 'dust pneumonia' when her lungs clogged with the airborne dirt. With characters who seem to have sprung from a novel by Sinclair Lewis or Steinbeck, and Egan's powerful writing, this account will long remain in readers' minds." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"All the elements of the iconic dust bowl photographs come together in the author's evocative portrait of those who first prospered and then suffered during the 1930s drought." Booklist
Review:
"...Timothy Egan has written a popular history that masterfully captures the story of our nation's greatest environmental disaster....It is fascinating and emotionally wrenching, and you just can't stop reading..." Chicago Tribune
Review:
"Egan's lively and incisive prose resembles a wild ride in a windstorm. The reader is quickly caught up in this terrifying juggernaut by Egan's perceptive connections between weather, politics, the economy and the people's suffering." San Antonio Express-News
Review:
"Egan...offers dramatic descriptions of the storms that vividly recreate their apocalyptic fury. He really excels...in capturing the human suffering they inflicted..." Washington Post
Review:
"Most Americans...have a generalized notion of the Dust Bowl experience....What they don't have is an appreciation of the detailed, slow, particular unfolding of it that Egan provides..." Los Angeles Times
Review:
"Egan has gone beyond statistics to reach the heart of this tragedy. The Worst Hard Time provides a sobering, gripping account of a disaster whose wounds are still not fully healed today." Boston Globe
Review:
"Egan has admirably captured a part of our American experience that should not be forgotten." San Francisco Chronicle
Review:
"[A] fierce, humane account of the nearly decade-long calamity of the Dust Bowl." Detroit Free Press
Synopsis:
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 in the darkest years of the Depression.
About the Author
Timothy Egan is a national enterprise reporter for the New York Times. He is the author of five books and the recipient of several awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. He lives in Seattle, Washington.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 5 comments:
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knel72, June 17, 2007 (view all comments by knel72)
For those of us that are unfamiliar with the causes of the Dust Bowl this is an enlightening book. For those who are you will likely find it an excellent refresher on why we need to care about how we treat the land we live on. The personal stories woven between Eagan's retelling of the political climate of the day provide an easily read historical account of a great American tragedy.
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Margy, January 14, 2007 (view all comments by Margy)
This book captured me and would not let go. It puts into perspective what we take for granted like the availability for food, shelter, and human interaction. It also conveys a frightening message about man's intervention upon nature. I find myself teaching the lessons to my students.
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Wardfan, November 23, 2006 (view all comments by Wardfan)
This is not only an amazing piece of history about a story we think we know, but is a frightening warning about what can happen and how fast paradise can turn into hell.
This is the story of the ecological disaster that the Dust Bowl and the dust storms of the 1930s visited on the U.S. told through the lives of real people who lived through it. The book comes in the midst of a spate of powerful books and films recently released about the ecological disasters that await us and makes this story all the more powerful and terrifying.
This book leaves a lasting memory and left me with an altered outlook about we are doing to our planet, This is a great piece of history and Egan is a great storyteller.
View all 5 comments
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780618773473
- Subtitle:
- The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
- Author:
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Mariner Books
- Location:
- Boston
- Subject:
- History
- Subject:
- United States - 20th Century
- Subject:
- Natural Disasters
- Subject:
- United States - 20th Century/Depression
- Subject:
- United States - State & Local - Midwest
- Copyright:
- 2005
- Edition Description:
- Trade paper
- Publication Date:
- September 2006
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Grade Level:
- General/trade
- Language:
- English
- Illustrations:
- Y
- Pages:
- 340
- Dimensions:
- 8.18x5.67x.86 in. .82 lbs.
