Wishlist Wednesday: The Worst Hard Time - Timothy Egan
The complete title of this book is: The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story Of Those Who Survived The Great American Dust Bowl. In this 2005 award-winning book, Timothy Egan explains how hundreds of million of acres of prairie farm land (and the people who lived upon them) in the United States and Canada were disastrously affected by a combination of dust storms, drought, and mistakes in farming practices.
For those who enjoy John Steinbeck's novels, especially his Pulitzer-prizewinning The Grapes Of Wrath, this seems like it would be an excellent companion piece, with a Woody Guthrie CD as musical accompaniment. I'm fascinated with all aspects of this period of history, and I'm lucky to be old enough to have had teachers and relatives and friends who have given me firsthand accounts of encounters with the "black blizzards."
I saw this at What The Book a couple of months ago, but I was being cheap with myself that day and promised that I'd get it "next time". You guessed it: Someone else with great reading taste grabbed it. Here's hoping that it won't have to linger on my wishlist for long.
For those who enjoy John Steinbeck's novels, especially his Pulitzer-prizewinning The Grapes Of Wrath, this seems like it would be an excellent companion piece, with a Woody Guthrie CD as musical accompaniment. I'm fascinated with all aspects of this period of history, and I'm lucky to be old enough to have had teachers and relatives and friends who have given me firsthand accounts of encounters with the "black blizzards."
I saw this at What The Book a couple of months ago, but I was being cheap with myself that day and promised that I'd get it "next time". You guessed it: Someone else with great reading taste grabbed it. Here's hoping that it won't have to linger on my wishlist for long.
3 comments:
This sounds like a great book! The dust bowl is an interesting time period.
I've heard of this and think it sounds really good, too.
Regarding being read to, I'm also not a big fan anymore. I would only choose that when going on a long drive.
thatsthebook,
I was surprised that Canada felt the effects of the dust bowl, too. Didn't know that it was that big of a catastrophe.
tara,
Re being read to: I don't know when I lost that! I used to love it and would totally lock in to the sound of my reader's voice.
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