R E K. (bigstone) - , reviewed on 6/13/2012 + 1451 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 3

The despair of those who lived in the Dust Bowl area during the great drought is heart-rending. Imagine dust that filters into your food and clothes, into your eyes, and into every corner of your home day after day after day. Clouds of black, grey, yellow and red dust cover the clear blue sky and the sun increasing making drifts that cover the fences, homes, and cars. Death in the form of dust pneumonia stalks the lives of every family. Heat that is never-ending, moisture that refuses to fall from the clouds that do form and the years pass as the farmers of the area try to save what they can - often nothing at all except sometimes hope and belief that all will someday get better.

It is apparent yet today that those who stripped the land of its life-saving turf damaged the land for generations. The government did help a little by creating national grassland areas and encouraging conservation efforts but those who live there draw on the aquifer at a rate that depletes its life-giving moisture faster than nature can replace it. Does man ever learn to value and care for the land?

Egan enlivens the story with incidents from the settlers and the emotions of those who endured this harrowing time all the way to the end of their lives. Perhaps Hartwell's diary best describes the day-to-day life of those who lived with the unremitting dust storms. I found these stories some of the more interesting sections of the book.

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