The Worst Hard Time

The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl

By: Timothy Egan

Narrated by: Jacob York

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.

Fascinating

I wanted to know more about the time my mother and her family were forced to leave their dust-blown Nebraska farm in the 1930’s. The book’s personal stories and historical and environmental context made her experience more vivid for me, and heart-breaking.

Astonishing how quickly man destroyed a centuries old environment

The history of the dust bowl is a lesson for today. We cannot ignore what is happening around the world with excess fertilizer of the soil. The runoff is poisonous to our oceans. Dead zones and algae blooms are a direct result of this practice. The dust bowl was a direct result of man’s greed for profit from growing crops. We need to pay attention to what is happening.

Tragic and essential reading

This magnificently documented and thoroughly devastating account of how human greed created the Dust Bowl should be required reading for anyone who thinks that free market economics will save the planet from climate change.

Solid book

Hard times, Good book. Interesting to hear how difficult things were. Well written and worth the listen.

Personal and historical background about the dust bowl

Loved how writer made it personal. Well rounded documentation of an era, I learned so much- the why this tragic phenomenon happened.