The Worst Hard Time

In the Middle of the United States during the 1930's, the skys swirled incessantly with so much soil that homes could not be rid of it, animals died with it blocking their digestion, and people died of what was termed dust pnuemonia. Chains were hooked to the backs of automobiles and dragged behind in order to ground the vehicles and prevent electricution while driving, rabbits were rounded up in great masses and clubbed to death, and some folks took to canning tumbleweed for it was the only vegetation that could be found.

The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan is a tale not only of the massive dusters that plagued this era, but also of the people who confronted these conditions with the hope of coming out ahead. The hope of tomorrow. We, as readers, get to know them as they struggle within their communities from the Panhandle in Texas to the lower regions of Colorado. Each with an engaging tale of survival, cunning, and resourcefulness. As we follow along with these unforgettable hero's, we learn much about what caused the dust bowl and the approach to solving the problem that affected the entire nation.

Reading this book, I realized that greed is not a class attribute, but a universal one, that hero's truly are born everyday and come in many shapes and sizes, and that hope really is eternal.