Hilda C. Landers Library & Archives

  • About
    • Hours
    • Directions and Maps
    • People
    • Policies
  • Research Help
    • Get Research Help
    • Research Tools
    • Research Guides
    • Get Endnote
    • Cite your Sources
    • Subject Librarians
  • Services
    • Print, Scan, Copy
    • Computers and Software
    • Group Study Rooms
    • Accessibility
    • St. Mary’s Project Resources
    • Services for Faculty
    • Borrow, Renew, Request
    • Notary Public Services
  • Archives
Library & Archives > Summer Reading > The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl By Timothy Egan

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

July 7, 2014 by Melissa Rushing

Most Americans have read John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, which chronicles the plight of the “Exo-dusters,” those who left the southern Great Plains for California during the Dust Bowl. Less well known are the stories of those who remained, weathering the Black Blizzards that lasted throughout much of the 1930s. In The Worst Hard Time, Timothy Egan builds on the personal narratives of farming families who struggled to survive these conditions in the epicenter of the Dust Bowl – including the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma Panhandle, southwestern Nebraska, and southeastern Colorado.

The Worst Hard Time is standard historical nonfiction, but the inclusion of detailed personal narratives enlivens the book and provides a human face to one of the country’s worst environmental disasters. Egan’s descriptive and lyrical writing helps readers visualize the humbling of the once independent Plains farmer, who dug up the sod and subsequently in his poverty, became reliant on the programs of the New Deal.

These stories may be familiar to readers who have watched Ken Burn’s The Dust Bowl on PBS, which relies heavily on Egan’s interviews and research to tell a broader story about the families who stayed on the Plains and those who left for California.

Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Kaitlyn Grigsby
Rating: Recommended

Filed Under: Summer Reading

Recent Posts

  • UPDATED Library Hours – Spring Break 2023 March 8, 2023
  • Library Winter Break Hours 2022-23 December 14, 2022
  • Library Hours – Fall 2022 Finals Week December 7, 2022
  • Library Hours – Thanksgiving Break 2022 November 14, 2022
  • Shauna Siggelkow on “Understanding the Great Replacement Network on YouTube” November 4, 2022

Categories

  • Announcements (2)
  • Archives (12)
  • Database Trial (8)
  • Events (52)
  • Exhibits (6)
  • Faculty and Staff Profiles (4)
  • Library Building (34)
  • Library Collection (60)
  • Library Ethnography Project (2)
  • Library Hours (54)
  • Library People (27)
  • Musings (34)
  • Services (31)
  • Student Employees (21)
  • Summer Reading (284)
  • Teaching & Education (2)
  • Web Resources (11)

Archives

Contact Us:

(240) 895-4264

ask@smcm.libanswers.com

47645 College Drive
St. Mary's City, MD, 20686-3001

Follow Us:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Follow Library News

  • Directions
  • Archives
  • Directory
Support the Library
St. Mary's College of Maryland, the Public Honors College
St. Mary's College of Maryland
47645 College Drive
St. Mary's City, MD, 20686-3001
(240) 895-2000

Next Steps

  • Request Information
  • Visit Campus
  • How to Apply
  • Discover Our Value
  • Virtual Tour

Just For You

  • Current Students
  • New Students
  • Parents
  • Faculty | Staff
  • Employment

Resources

  • InsideSMCM
  • Directory
  • Events | Newsroom
  • Hilda C. Landers Library
  • College Rankings
© 2023 St. Mary's College of Maryland Consumer Information Copyright Privacy Policy Campus Rights & Responsibilities Help Desk Website Feedback
National Human Trafficking Hotline 1-888-373-7888 BeFree Textline Text HELP to 233733 (BEFREE) More resources on human trafficking in Maryland