The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl in History is Not Boring

Jun 27, 2007 Grumpus rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history, audiobook, disaster

This is based upon the audio download from [http://www.Audible.com]

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

Shocking...literally! I learned that if you were caught up in one of these dust storms, you don't want to touch anyone because of the static electricty the dust would create and of killer black pneumonia that slowly suffocated its victims, especially children. This story puts those there who have not lived through this tragedy. ...more

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Nov 02, 2021 Louis rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Today the mention of the Dust Bowl still causes shudders. A time when the land seemed to take an active role in killing people remains difficult to comprehend. Fortunately, Egan's book offers a detailed accounting of this historic disaster. He was able to talk to a handful of aged survivors about their experiences (people likely no longer around). In telling their stories, Egan helps explain people who hold on to their love of a place that did so much to get rid of them. A fascinating book about ...more

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Apr 19, 2011 Jim rated it liked it

Shelves: history

I returned to my true historical love, the study of the Great Depression, in this account of the brutal Dust Bowl years that ravaged the Great Plains in the 1930s. Anyone who has read about this time would likely recall at least some of the stark and beautiful photographs of farmers and homesteads buried in sand. It is a common project lately, of journalists taking up historical subjects. Egan produced a good account of the penalty nature can inflict on those who are ignorant and filled with hub ...more

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Apr 10, 2009 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, 5-stars

Reading this book, the word that came most often to mind was “apocalypse.” I’d heard of the dust bowl but never realized what a harrowing, long-lasting catastrophe it was. The descriptions of the storms, which could as easily have been dubbed dirt storms, were frightening and fascinating. They were like “coarse hair,” and the “inside of a dog.” The color and texture of the rolling, thousand-feet-high clouds crackle, packed as they were with static electricity. The scale of the storms was giganti Reading this book, the word that came most often to mind was “apocalypse.” I’d heard of the dust bowl but never realized what a harrowing, long-lasting catastrophe it was. The descriptions of the storms, which could as easily have been dubbed dirt storms, were frightening and fascinating. They were like “coarse hair,” and the “inside of a dog.” The color and texture of the rolling, thousand-feet-high clouds crackle, packed as they were with static electricity. The scale of the storms was gigantic, reaching at times as far as the east coast.

Structurally I thought the book was put together expertly – the overall frame of the environment and the times, led along by the stories of individuals. The fragments of one Nebraska man’s diary worked a sad, anecdotal magic. I enjoyed the human stories, and that of the ravaged grassland, the national challenge, and the snapshot of FDR. The slice of history was also fascinating. Deep in the depression, the border of California was dotted with signs telling job-seekers to turn back. The signs in Dalhart, too, telling black people not to “let the sun go down” on them seem shocking now, but were surely typical of the 1930s.

The subtitle of the book is “the untold story of those who survived the the great American dust bowl.” Ok, I hate the expression “the untold story” and to be honest a lot of people did not survive, they died trying to stick it out. But it’s easy to understand what kept some there: land and homes they owned, family, the “the devil we know.”

The atmosphere is claustrophobic. There is nothing green. The idea that dust could infiltrate your home despite shut windows and wet sheets draped over doors is suffocating. I’d never heard of “dust pneumonia,” and the scene in which they cut open a dead animal to find its stomach stuffed with sand/dust/dirt brings the danger of this air home. People die of dust, they go blind, they go mad.

This book gets five stars because it blew my mind. Just when you thought things couldn’t get more miserable, they did. To be fair, I don’t know if I should credit the writer or the storms themselves, but the writer certainly conveyed the phenomenon and its enormity to me. Sometimes I wondered if it had to be so dramatic. Sometimes I wondered how he resisted being more dramatic.
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Jun 10, 2010 Matt rated it really liked it

a great book about one of the worst man-made disasters in American history.

The tales of the people were amazing, I particularly enjoyed reading about the German immigrants and I grieved with Hazel for her lost child. I also really enjoyed Bam White and his family. Overall, the author picked a colorful and interesting set of families and individuals who's experiences help tell story of the dustbowl.

I also liked how he introduced Hugh Bennett, but I would have liked to have read more about the res ...more

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Apr 05, 2009 Staci rated it it was amazing

Thisis one of the best books I have read regarding the Dust Bowl. Egan does a fantastic job of making the reader aware of "events" nationally and internationally within the stories he shares. Further more he does a wonderful job giving faces to the homesteaders. This is a keeper for my shelf! ...more

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Jul 18, 2007 Sara W rated it it was amazing

Shelves: i-own-these-books, non-fiction

Excellent book about the Great Depression and Dust Bowl era. It focuses on the people more than the politics at the time, which is what I was looking for. I tried reading a different book simply called The Great Depression, but it was all about the politics at the time and was really boring. I prefered this book because it told the story of the everyday people who were affected by and lived through the Dirty Thirties.

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May 08, 2009 Marianne rated it really liked it

Reading this book made me realize how little I knew about the Dust Bowl era. I learned a lot and gained an appreciation for the desperation and the determination of the people who lived through that extremely difficult time.

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