The Worst Hard Time....

...by Timothy Egan is the next book that I would LOVE to praise.  I realize that I do not get around to praising or reviewing books much on this blog even though reading is one of my all time favorite pastimes. 

This is a historical factual story of the survivors of the Great Plains and the Dust Storm of the 1930s.  The book starts out with a mention of the Homestead Act of the 1860s and the "rush" of "nesters" to the Great Plain States.  Then the author gives account of the Booming 20s when World War I was on and commodity prices were up.  During this time, the farmers were "booming" in wealth.  They were taking out mortgages to buy more land and actual machinery-doing away with the horse/mule and plow.  After the Booming 20s, the stories of the Stock Market crash, the Dust Bowl, the 7 years of drought on the plains, and the Depression are all told.  It talks about President Roosevelt's New Deal and Conservation plans.  The book ends with President Roosevelt visiting Amarillo, TX one day, and on that day, the rains finally began again.  In the Epilogue, the author talks about how the farmers have now drilled into the Ogallala Aquifer for irrigation, but how at the rate they are pumping the water, the aquifer will soon dry up.  The Epilogue discusses how there are very few profitable "homesteaders"-that most of the farm ground is now government paid and subsidized. 

This book was significant to me.  Why?

I love reading about history in different parts of our country, but more importantly, this book literally is "home" for me. My great grandparents on at least 3 sides of the family that I know of fled starvation and unemployment of the east coast and Ozarks to Kansas and Oklahoma during the Homestead Act of the 1860s and the Booming 20s. Most of them stayed through the Dust Bowl and stuck it out. Some died. Some (my grandmothers family) left and migrated to the mountains of Colorado. My hometown, the farmlands I was raised on, drove through, tromped through, etc, are all featured in this book.   My parents hosted many Boy Scout camp outs on the Comanche National Grassland in Southern Prowers County and Baca County.  This National Grassland is a direct-surviving Conservation effort to reclaim the land as mentioned in the book.  It was one of the few Conservation Projects that survived from the 1930s.  My hometown of Lamar is full of Work Progress Act (WPA) projects.  My high school football stadium and the original hospital are just 2 of them.  My brother played middle school football at that stadium; I ran high school track there; the whole town watched Friday night football games there.  The original hospital was later converted into the "first" college in town, and then later converted into an apartment building, which is where my brother's apartment was located.

From my great-grandparents who decided to settle the plains of Kansas through my childhood, my life was deeply impacted by The Worst Hard Time.  Though I obviously was not alive in the 20s or 30s, this book has been significant to me in understanding my great grandparents and why they chose to homestead where they did. It helps me understand the mentality of my 2 grandmothers that are still living after surviving the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. 

It is a very good read and I am so happy that I finally took the opportunity to read it.