We all learned in our history classes about what happened to the United States in 1929, and the ensuing years. The stock market crashed, people lost their jobs, the value of the dollar was severely decreased, and then of course there was the dust bowl. This was the term that referred to the areas primarily in north Texas, the western half of Oklahoma and the majority of Kansas.
In his book “The Worst Hard Time” author Timothy Egan chronicles the decisions and policies put in place by our leaders that lead to some of the problems that happened in this region, as well as what those who inhabited the region did to make it even worse. This is the story of those who did not or simply could not leave the area because of family ties, pride, stupidity or lack of wealth. I was looking around to see what some others thought of this book and I found a good quote regarding why people stayed in the dust bowl despite having potentially greater aspirations.
“Nebraska Land Nebraska Land
Tis’ on thy barren soil we stand
It’s not as though we wish to stay
We are too poor to move away.”
- Author Unknown
That quote more or less summarizes the general tone of the book. The families followed in this book all go through some fairly severe hardships ranging anywhere from sicknesses, to property loss, or in some cases even death. What these people went through was physically, mentally, and emotionally scarring and has obviously had a profound impact on their lives.
Although I think this is just intended to be a historical account portraying what happened through the eyes of these families, I think there are some underlying themes of geography scattered throughout the book. One of the main themes was basically the “Swiss-cheese” model explanation for why things got so bad in this region. There were many factors like uneven distribution of wealth, federal tax laws, people defaulting on payments, and unregulated stock market etc. that ultimately led to the crash that turned into what we know as the great depression. But this was just the start of things for the people in the “dustbowl” region. This collapse in the market caused crop prices to drop dramatically, so to compensate, farmers over-farmed the hell out of this area, in order to meet what they thought would be a potentially high demand. What they failed to realize was that hardly anyone anywhere had any money, and despite the low prices for crops, there was no demand because everyone was hit so hard by the great depression. In addition to over-farming and not being able to make ends meet by selling their crops, farmers in this region also screwed themselves for the future by completely wrecking the soil structure of the area, rendering almost infertile.
I actually got the chills a few times when reading about some of the hardships these people had to endure living in this infertile, poor, dry, miserable place. One of the chapters discusses the division created between those who chose to exodus to California where the conditions were presumably better, and those who chose to weather it out in the dust bowl. Egan writes about how there were various pride building rallies for those who chose to stay, in this case, in the town of Dalhart, Texas.
“...are we going to stay here until hell freezes over?”
“Yes!”
“I ask you again: How long are we gonna stay here?”
“Till...Hell...Freezes...Over!”
- Excerpt from a speech by John McCarty, Dalhart Texas, 1935
He also goes on to write that people who remained in contact with their families back in the dustbowl region would write back and suggest that California was no better than Texas, not because of the living conditions, but because of how these people were treated. One person writes: “No matter where people come from they are simply called Okie,” which apparently means “no better than a throw away rag.” This person continues to write saying “...at least in ‘No-Man’s Land’ people have family and friends to help them, and people look you straight in the eyes, with respect.” As mentioned earlier I think that kind of attitude has created a division that still looms in our society today. This isn’t to say that there is a specific division between the people of this region and Californians, but in general when disaster strikes I think it brings people closer, as was definitely the case here. When something like this happens one has to rely almost solely on the people immediately around them, and that creates a renewed sense of pride and loyalty within the community.
So I read some other reviews online and I saw a lot of 3/5 star reviews because people didn’t feel there was enough drama, or the book was too “dry” but I think those people are full of shit. For one, this is a non-fiction book written to give a historical perspective on the things that happened in this region from a first-hand perspective. I don’t think in any way it was ever written with intent to be overly flashy or dramatic, it was written exactly how it was supposed to be written. Egan does an excellent job portraying the hardships these people had to endure and how they got by in these extremely difficult times. In many cases when I read a book or watch a movie I know it has my attention and I am going to learn something if I can visualize in my mind myself being there. In the case of this book I often found my mind wandering into a crowded dark basement where I was huddled up with family members praying that the 60 mph dust storms didn’t shatter my windows and pollute my lungs with dust. I also really enjoyed that I could relate to the geographical applications of this book, and not just the history. I’m willing to bet that 99.9% of the people who wrote online reviews for this book were not of a geographic discipline and thus got much less than they bargained for. That being said I would give this book an 8.5/10 and recommend it to anyone with any interest in the history of the depression or the dustbowl, as well as anyone with an interest in historical or environmental geography.
Review by Clayton Nass
