The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

Can't think of a more aptly-named book! I'm not sure if this was a stylistic choice, but the way that the middle bulk of the book, once the Dust Bowl starts, continues to batter you with despair and just the worst things you could possibly imagine, begin to kind of mirror what these people were going through. Egan is as unrelenting in telling this story as the dust was itself. I definitely learned a lot, and it was a really interesting read to see how everything came to be. Rather than finding much human triumph in this story, it really just paints a picture of people reaping what they sow, and some managing to either hold on long enough to stay there and not really see things improved markedly, or get outta dodge, often into a situation you could only call better because there were no literal tons of dirt pouring through their walls.

Reviewed on Sunday, November 26th, 2023, 12:14pm.

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