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

by Egan, Timothy

• ISBN13: 9780618773473
• ISBN10: 0618773479
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-01
• Publisher: Houghton Miff

Summary

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.

Author Biography

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.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Live Through This	1	(12)
I PROMISE: The Great Plowup, 1901-1930
1. The Wanderer	13	(19)
2. No Man's Land	32	(20)
3. Creating Dalhart	52	(7)
4. High Plains Deutsch	59	(14)
5. Last of the Great Plowup	73	(18)
II BETRAYAL, 1931-1933
6. First Wave	91	(12)
7. A Darkening	103	(12)
8. Ina Dry Land	115	(13)
9. New Leader, New Deal	128	(8)
10. Big Blows	136	(9)
III BLOWUP, 1934-1939
11. Triage	145	(10)
12. The Long Darkness	155	(16)
13. The Struggle for Air	171	(5)
14. Showdown in Dalhart	176	(17)
15. Duster's Eve	193	(5)
16. Black Sunday	198	(24)
17. A Call to Arms	222	(14)
18. Goings	236	(6)
19. Witnesses	242	(12)
20. The Saddest Land	254	(11)
21. Verdict	265	(8)
22. Cornhusker II	273	(6)
23. The Last Men	279	(14)
24. Cornhusker III	293	(10)
25. Rain	303	(6)
Epilogue	309	(6)
Notes and Sources	315	(13)
Acknowledgments	328	(3)
Index	331