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Original Essays | September 17, 2013
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More copies of this ISBNThe Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowlby Timothy Egan
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher 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 AuthorTimothy 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.
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Other books you might likeRelated SubjectsFeatured Titles » General Featured Titles » History and Social Science Featured Titles » World Book Night 2013 History and Social Science » Americana » Great Plains History and Social Science » Sale Books History and Social Science » US History » 1920 to 1960 History and Social Science » US History » 20th Century » General History and Social Science » US History » General History and Social Science » World History » General Science and Mathematics » Physics » Meteorology
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