The Worst Hard Time: Summary and book reviews of The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, plus links to an excerpt from The Worst Hard Time and a biography of Timothy Egan.

National Book Awards, 2006 The dust storms that terrorized America's High Plains in the darkest 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 New York Times journalist and author Timothy Egan follows a half-dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, 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 loved ones. 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 backdrop of the Great Depression. As only great history can, Egan's book captures the very voice of the times: its grit, pathos, and abiding courage. Combining the human drama of Isaac's Storm with the sweep of The American People in the Great Depression, The Worst Hard Time is a lasting and important work of American history. Winner of the 2006 National Book Award.

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While Egan has nothing but admiration for the individual farmers caught up in the devastation, he has a harsher view for the policies, and the people behind the policies, that managed to eradicate the "greatest grassland in the world" in an historical blink of an eye.  (Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).

Full Review (1141 words).

Media Reviews

The Seattle Times - Mary Ann Gwinn In The Worst Hard Time Egan lets it rip. This is a sad and angry book, written with vivid description and a propulsive prose all the more remarkable for the fact that most of the people who lived through this story are no longer alive to tell the tale.   Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - John Freeman Timothy Egan, a reporter for The New York Times, portrays the period in his gripping account, the giant black clouds that choked the drought-stricken southern plains were born of nature and economic comeuppance.   The San Francisco Chronicle - Elizabeth Corcoran Timothy Egan ... masterfully depicts the bitter life in the Great Plains in the 1930s. John Steinbeck in Grapes of Wrath painted a searing portrait of the Okies who fled the Plains. But far more people clung to their farms, hoping that the next season would be better .... Egan has admirably captured a part of our American experience that should not be forgotten.   USA Today - Bob Minzesheimer Egan recreates that period by weaving together the stories told by a half-dozen families. That is both the book's strength and weakness. It does justice to the range of suffering, but it's harder to follow than a novel that would focus on one family. The subtitle, The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, is publishing hype. As Egan's extensive source notes make clear, pieces of the story have been told before, although never as comprehensively or as well. It's a great read about a horrible time, filled with lessons still worth learning.   The Washington Post - Wendy Smith Timothy Egan's searing history of the economic and ecological collapse of the southern Great Plains during the 1930s is an epic cautionary tale ... Egan's fluent narrative chronicles the terrifying consequences of a reckless hubris that in a few decades stripped the earth of prairie grass that for centuries had protected it from erosion.   Booklist All the elements of the iconic dust bowl photographs come together in the author's evocative portrait of those who first prospered and then suffered during the 1930s drought.   Publishers Weekly Starred Review. With characters who seem to have sprung from a novel by Sinclair Lewis or Steinbeck, and Egan's powerful writing, this account will long remain in readers' minds.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by Suzanne G.
So much history
This was an excellent book: a true story about the the dust storms of the plains during the Depression. Timothy Egan carries a person around the Dust Bowl, showing the reader the courage of those who stayed to endure the terrific tragedy affecting...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Mimi in Arizona
A must read for every American
The subject matter is very timely for our country today. It feels like you're reading about our current economic meltdown, not about a period 80 years ago. Scary, haunting and incredibly well told. So worth the time you'll spend reading it....   Read More

Rated of 5 by Robert Sego
Touching the Essence of the Land and the People
Timothy Egan provided tremendous insight into a question that has plagued me since I was able to think independently. What were those people even doing there? With my vanishing family roots in the Amarillo area, the last vestiges of which are my...   Read More

Rated of 5 by meo
The Worst Hard Time
Timothy Egan has a unique gift: Relating facts in a way that touch touch your heart!

Rated of 5 by Dorothy "Dorie" Lee Streeter-Pearsall
I am so glad you Told the Story!
We were there! I was born in 1931, my sister in 1929. We lived in Manter, Kansas in Stanton County and moved to eastern Kansas in 1938. I have pictures of the "rollers" and remember the wet sheets at the windows and the sand we scooped...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Sharon Britton
Almost Unbelievable
This is a wonderfully readable account of human experiences and suffering during the Dust Bowl. It is a great companion read to The Grapes of Wrath. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about one of the truly great environmental...   Read More

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