Download The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl AudioBook Free
"The Worst DIFFICULT EXPERIENCE is an epic story of blind hope and endurance almost beyond belief; additionally it is, as Tim Egan has told it, a riveting tale of bumptious charlatans, conmen, and tricksters, environmental arrogance and hubris, political chicanery, and a ruinous ignorance of nature's ways. Egan has reached across the generations and brought us the people who played out the drama in this devastated land, and uses their voices to share with the storyline as well as it might ever be told." — Marq de Villiers, writer of Water: The Fate in our Most Precious Resource
The dust storms that terrorized America's High Plains in the darkest many years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since, and the stories of the people that held on have never been fully told. Pulitzer Prize–winning NY Times journalist and author Timothy Egan follows a half-dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the spot, going from sod homes to new framed houses to huddling in basements with the windows sealed by damp sheets in a futile effort to keep the dust out. He follows their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black blizzards, crop failure, and the deaths of family members. Drawing on the voices of those who stayed and survived—those who, now in their eighties and nineties, will soon carry their memories to the grave—Egan tells a story of endurance and heroism against the setting of the Great Depression.
As only great history can, Egan's book captures the very voice of the changing times: its grit, pathos, and abiding courage. Combining the human drama of Isaac's Storm with the sweep with the American People in the Great Depression, The Worst DIFFICULT EXPERIENCE is a lasting and important work of American history.
Timothy Egan is a national enterprise reporter for the New York Times. He is the author of four books and the recipient of several awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. He lives in Seattle, Washington.
“As you who, as a young reporter, survived and reported on the fantastic Dust Bowl disaster, I recommend this book as a dramatic, exciting, and accurate account of that incredible and deadly phenomenon. That is can’t-put-it-down history.” —Walter Cronkite
"The Worst DIFFICULT EXPERIENCE is wonderful: ribbed like surf, and battering us with a national epic that ranks second and then the Revolution and the Civil War. Egan knows this and convincingly claims recognition for his subject—as we as a country finally accomplished, first with Lewis and Clark, and then for 'the greatest generation,' a lot of whose members of course were also survivors of the hardships of the Great Depression. That is a banner, heartfelt but informative book, full of energy, research, and compassion." —Edward Hoagland, writer of Compass Points: BY DOMAIN FLIPPING Lived
"Here is a terrific true story—who could put it down? Egan humanizes Dust Bowl history by telling the vivid stories of the families who stayed behind. One loves the people and admires Egan's vigor and sympathy." —Annie Dillard, writer of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
"The American West got lucky when Tim Egan focused his acute powers of observation on its past and present. Egan's remarkable blend of clear analysis and warm empathy anchors his portrait of the women and men who held on to their places—and held on to their souls—through the practically unimaginable miseries of the Dust Bowl. This book provides the finest mental exercise for folks attempting to deepen, broaden, and strengthen their thinking about the relationship of human beings to this earth." —Patricia N. Limerick, writer of The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West
The dust storms that terrorized America's High Plains in the darkest many years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since, and the stories of the people that held on have never been fully told. Pulitzer Prize–winning NY Times journalist and author Timothy Egan follows a half-dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the spot, going from sod homes to new framed houses to huddling in basements with the windows sealed by damp sheets in a futile effort to keep the dust out. He follows their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black blizzards, crop failure, and the deaths of family members. Drawing on the voices of those who stayed and survived—those who, now in their eighties and nineties, will soon carry their memories to the grave—Egan tells a story of endurance and heroism against the setting of the Great Depression.
As only great history can, Egan's book captures the very voice of the changing times: its grit, pathos, and abiding courage. Combining the human drama of Isaac's Storm with the sweep with the American People in the Great Depression, The Worst DIFFICULT EXPERIENCE is a lasting and important work of American history.
Timothy Egan is a national enterprise reporter for the New York Times. He is the author of four books and the recipient of several awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. He lives in Seattle, Washington.
“As you who, as a young reporter, survived and reported on the fantastic Dust Bowl disaster, I recommend this book as a dramatic, exciting, and accurate account of that incredible and deadly phenomenon. That is can’t-put-it-down history.” —Walter Cronkite
"The Worst DIFFICULT EXPERIENCE is wonderful: ribbed like surf, and battering us with a national epic that ranks second and then the Revolution and the Civil War. Egan knows this and convincingly claims recognition for his subject—as we as a country finally accomplished, first with Lewis and Clark, and then for 'the greatest generation,' a lot of whose members of course were also survivors of the hardships of the Great Depression. That is a banner, heartfelt but informative book, full of energy, research, and compassion." —Edward Hoagland, writer of Compass Points: BY DOMAIN FLIPPING Lived
"Here is a terrific true story—who could put it down? Egan humanizes Dust Bowl history by telling the vivid stories of the families who stayed behind. One loves the people and admires Egan's vigor and sympathy." —Annie Dillard, writer of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
"The American West got lucky when Tim Egan focused his acute powers of observation on its past and present. Egan's remarkable blend of clear analysis and warm empathy anchors his portrait of the women and men who held on to their places—and held on to their souls—through the practically unimaginable miseries of the Dust Bowl. This book provides the finest mental exercise for folks attempting to deepen, broaden, and strengthen their thinking about the relationship of human beings to this earth." —Patricia N. Limerick, writer of The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West
