I started this years ago and had put it down for some reason. Began from the beginning this time and enjoyed this very much. Informative and very well researched...Not at all dry, as it tells the story of the area through the experiences of specific individuals and families who survived through the most difficult years in the dust bowl.

This was a fascinating and also sometimes painful read; engrossing and atmospheric, the right amount of zoomed-in on individual people: everything I could ask for from good historical nonfiction. I couldn’t put it down. Devastating and important. I will absolutely NEVER forget the baby abandoned in front of the church. My heart.

I think we all learned in school how terrible the dust bowl was, but before reading this there was no capacity for my brain to imagine the absolutely horrible circumstances people lived through. I will be “Did you know?!”ing everyone in my life dust bowl facts for a while now.

An interesting look into a part of US history I knew little about. Amazing to think that people lived in dugout houses in the years my grandparents were born. Sad to realize there prairies were so destroyed that I’ll never be able to see them as they once were. A little nerve racking to see history repeating itself in the over farming of our land.

The Dust Bowl era, as recounted by its survivors. Unbelievable. I had no idea how bad it was, both for the people and the environment.

After enjoying Fever in the Heartland by Egan, I decided to read more of his work. I picked this one up now as a kind of perspective therapy to deal with anxiety about current events. I have used this strategy before and it works wonders to read about Communist China, North Korean history, or the Dustbowl when things feel all messed up. Perspective is a beautiful thing. It also helps you feel grateful for what you have.

I knew about the Dustbowl and Oakies migrating to California…but man did this complete the picture. I had no concept that it lasted 7 years!!! The hell these people went through was insane. I also feel like I have a more complete picture of the causes of the dust storms which is helpful. If you like nonfiction history books, this is a good one.

What can I say, it's a history book, about a period that would be much better covered by photography, film, a Woody Guthrie song or perhaps good historical fiction. The story as told here drags a little and despite the author's best effort never really gets us into the heads of the people who lived through this. In fact, I can summerize it pretty quickly. Encouraged by government programs, settlers of the "Dust Bowl" region of the country plowed up the only plant that would grow there (buffalo grass), and tried to farm an area with historically too little rainfall to support crops. A couple of years of good rainfall plus crop price inflation caused by war resulted in millions of square miles stripped of its protective grass. When the rain and wheat prices went back to their norms, the unprotected land was swept up in enormous dust storms and misery and death resulted for the few stubborn folks who refused to move somewhere else. Government programs to alleviate the ecological disaster were well meaning but ineffective. Today, deep water wells allow some modest crop growth, although they are rapidly depleting the aquifer. The nation is left with farm subsidies that were originally meant to allow poor people to keep their land, but now subsidize large corporate farms.

I LOVED this book! Just a heads up for those who aren't big non-fiction readers, it is a history, not a novel, about the Dust Bowl during the 1930's. I couldn't put it down! I loved that some of the places mentioned throughout the book are places familiar from watching the weather news here. I know where Baca County and Lamar are! Also, living here on the edge of the arid high plains with the wind we see all. the. time. really allowed me to visualize and sympathize more easily. Just last weekend I was at a soccer game where the winds blew so hard that they knocked Tommy (2) over a couple of times, the balls were flying all over the field without being kicked and tumbleweeds were taking over the field. Knowing the people in the stories were and are real and the beauty and horror with which the stories were told made me feel like I was living a piece of their lives. I don't know if I've ever read a non-fiction this quickly.

This might sound a little soap-boxy and many may not agree, but I couldn't help thinking about the laying of that pipeline recently stalled by Obama that had everyone up-in-arms because it could have brought immediate jobs and potential economic benefits--without fully understanding the environmental consequences. Sometimes slow and careful is important, a HUGE lesson learned from the Dust Bowlers!