The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

In a tour de force of historical reportage, Timothy Egan’s 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. This e-book includes a sample chapter of THE IMMORTAL IRISHMAN.

Just not that interesting, though not poorly written.

Easy, engaging read, but the book has a few too many narratives.

My understanding of the period and events referred to as the Dust Bowl came exclusively from my elementary education and the novels The Grapes of Wrath and Whose Names Are Unknown. In a nutshell, the narrative is that over-farming caused bad conditions throughout the plains making life and farming difficult. That's all basically true, but wow, there's so much more to the story.

The Worst Hard Time gives a more complete story. Over-farming is one thing; completely changing the landscape of thousands of square miles in a matter of years is another. Bad dust storms is one thing; massive clouds of pure blackness that spread from state to state, preventing individuals from seeing anything but random sparks of static electricity for an entire day is another. A difficult life is one thing; the near improbability of survival is another.

As a reader primarily of character-driven fiction, this wasn't the most riveting read, but it was very informative. I do wish Egan had spent more time developing the various players, as they mostly blend together for me as a reader. Perhaps the individuals didn't matter so much in the telling of this tale, but the lack of individual connection did make it difficult for me to attach to anyone.