Synopses & Reviews
In a tour de force of historical reportage, Timothy Egans National Book Award-winning story rescues an iconic chapter of American history from the shadows.
The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Timothy 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, he 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 reminder about the dangers of trifling with nature.
Synopsis
Presents an oral history of the dust storms that devastated the Great Plains during the Depression, following several families and their communities in their struggle to persevere despite the devastation.
Synopsis
The dust storms that terrorized America's High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since, and the stories of the people that held on have never been fully told. Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist and
Synopsis
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist brings together an oral history of the American Dust Bowl that devastated the Great Plains during the Great Depression, following several families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region and their desperate struggle to persevere despite the devastation. Reader's Guide available. Reprint.
About the Author
TIMOTHY EGAN is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and the author of six books, most recently
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America, a
New York Times bestseller and winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award and the Washington State Book Award. His previous books include
The Worst Hard Time, which won a National Book Award and was named a
New York Times Editors Choice. He
is an online op-ed columnist for the New York Times, writing his "Opinionator" feature once a week.He is a third-generation Westerner and lives in Seattle.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Live Through This -- I promise: Great Plowup, 1901-1930: Wanderer -- No man's land -- Creating Dalhart -- High plains Deutsch -- Last of the great plowup -- Betryal, 1931-1933: First Wave -- Darkening -- In a dry land -- New leader, New Deal -- Big blows -- Blowup, 1934-1939: -- Triage -- Long darkness -- Struggle for Air -- Showdown in Dalhart -- Duster's eve -- Black Sunday -- Call to arms -- Goings -- Witnesses -- Saddest land -- Verdict -- Cornhusker II -- Last men -- Cornhusker III -- Rain -- Epilogue -- Notes and sources -- Acknowledgments -- Index.