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The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great...

by Egan, Timothy | PB | Good
US $5.46
ApproximatelyC $7.56
Condition:
Good
Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, ... Read moreabout condition
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Last updated on Aug 27, 2025 12:20:58 EDTView all revisionsView all revisions

Item specifics

Condition
Good
A book that has been read but is in good condition. Very minimal damage to the cover including scuff marks, but no holes or tears. The dust jacket for hard covers may not be included. Binding has minimal wear. The majority of pages are undamaged with minimal creasing or tearing, minimal pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text, no writing in margins. No missing pages. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections. See all condition definitionsopens in a new window or tab
Seller Notes
“Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, ...
Binding
Paperback
Weight
0 lbs
Product Group
Book
IsTextBook
No
ISBN
9780618773473

About this product

Product Identifiers

Publisher
HarperCollins
ISBN-10
0618773479
ISBN-13
9780618773473
eBay Product ID (ePID)
62999755

Product Key Features

Book Title
Worst Hard Time : the Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
Number of Pages
352 Pages
Language
English
Publication Year
2006
Topic
Weather, Natural Disasters, Economic History, United States / 20th Century, United States / State & Local / MidWest (IA, Il, in, Ks, Mi, MN, Mo, Nd, Ne, Oh, Sd, Wi)
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Nature, Business & Economics, History
Author
Timothy Egan
Format
Trade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height
0.8 in
Item Weight
11 Oz
Item Length
8.2 in
Item Width
5.5 in

Additional Product Features

Intended Audience
Trade
TitleLeading
The
Dewey Edition
22
Reviews
[A] fierce, humane account of the dreams and extremes that crashed head on during the nearly decade-long calamity of the Dust Bowl. The New York Times [A] vivid and gritty piece of forgotten history. USA Today "The Worst Hard Time" provides a sobering, gripping account of a disaster whose wounds are still not fully healed today. Boston Globe The Worst Hard Time is a haunting work of narrative nonfiction. The Baltimore Sun Egan has admirably captured a part of our American experience that should not be forgotten. The San Francisco Chronicle Egan is a passionate and accomplished writer...Read this for history, not inspiration or entertainment. The Denver Post Egan's account of the Dust Bowl era is a final, terrible rebuke to the policies of America's dying days of frontier expansion. The Seattle Times THE WORST HARD TIME is a flat-out masterpiece of historical reportage. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Grade From
Ninth Grade
Dewey Decimal
978/.032
Table Of Content
Contents Introduction: Live Through This 1 I * PROMISE: The Great Plowup, 1901-1930 1. The Wanderer 13 2. No Man's Land 32 3. Creating Dalhart 52 4. High Plains Deutsch 59 5. Last of the Great Plowup 73 II * BETRAYAL, 1931-1933 6. First Wave 91 7. A Darkening 103 8. In a Dry Land 115 9. New Leader, New Deal 128 10. Big Blows 136 III * BLOWUP, 1934-1939 11. Triage 145 12. The Long Darkness 155 13. The Struggle for Air 171 14. Showdown in Dalhart 176 15. Duster's Eve 193 16. Black Sunday 198 17. A Call to Arms 222 18. Goings 236 19. Witnesses 242 20. The Saddest Land 254 21. Verdict 265 22. Cornhusker II 273 23. The Last Men 279 24. Cornhusker III 293 25. Rain 303 Epilogue 309 Notes and Sources 315 Acknowledgments 328 Index 331
Synopsis
This National Book Award-winning story, a tour de force of historical reportage, rescues an iconic chapter of American history--the Dust Bowl that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression--from the shadows. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, Egan does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes, "the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgency and respect" (New York Times). In an era that promises ever-greater natural disasters, The Worst Hard Time is "arguably the best nonfiction book yet" (Austin Statesman Journal) on the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land and a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of trifling with nature., Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones in the darkest years of the Depression., 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 Prizea "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 huts to new framed houses to huddling in basements with the windows sealed by damp sheets in a futile effort to keep the dust out., This National Book Award-winning story, a tour de force of historical reportage, rescues an iconic chapter of American history--the Dust Bowl that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression--from the shadows.Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, Egan does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes, "the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgency and respect" (New York Times).In an era that promises ever-greater natural disasters, The Worst Hard Time is "arguably the best nonfiction book yet" ( Austin Statesman Journal ) on the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land and a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of trifling with nature., In a tour de force of historical reportage, Timothy Egan's National Book Award-winning story rescues an iconic chapter of American history from the shadows. The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Timothy Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, he does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes, "the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgency and respect" ( New York Times ). In an era that promises ever-greater natural disasters, The Worst Hard Time is "arguably the best nonfiction book yet" ( Austin Statesman Journal ) on the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land and a powerful reminder about the dangers of trifling with nature.
LC Classification Number
F595.E38 2006

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Product ratings and reviews

4.8
47 product ratings
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Most relevant reviews

  • Top favourable review

    A great read if you like reading about our history or disasters.

    The book was well written and very informative, much more so than any history class I ever had on the dust bowl and the hardships these people suffered for many years. If you like reading about hurricanes, tornadoes, and other disasters, then you will enjoy this book as well. It's also packed with a lot of history about the people of the plains and their lifestyle and why this horrible drought happened in the first place. If you like history and detail, you will most likely enjoy reading this book. I read it in a couple of afternoons and couldn't put it down.

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-OwnedSold by: thrift.books

  • Great Historical Read!

    My parents lived in the Texas panhandle during the Dust Bowl. They were born in the early 1930's, and were small children when the Dust Bowl started. Some older relatives talked about my mom having her face wrapped in wet cloth when she went outside, but that was all that they really said. Since my ancestors were farmers and ranchers in the panhandle around Dalhart, Groom, and Panhandle, I wanted to know more about what they went through. This book paints a compelling picture of the times, what led up to the disaster, and what it was like living in the area during those years. I learned a lot and highly recommend this book.

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: NewSold by: theuncommonhouse

  • BUY THIS BOOK!!!

    This is REAL American History- The TRUE STORY of the cataclysmic meteorological AND agricultural disaster of the Great Depression era which reads more like a novel than some bland, pedantic history tome. Depressing, heart-breaking and uplifting at the same time; the TRUE STORY of how many Americans lived and SURVIVED the great disastrous killer-dust storms of the 1930s... A GREAT READ... I couldn't stop reading this book...

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-OwnedSold by: second.sale

  • A sad story of poor land mangement

    If you're any kind of a history buff, this one's for you. I bought it because I had just encountered ancestors in my family tree who lived through the dust bowl and lost everything. Lots of personal and family stories and information about what caused this disaster that befell families and caused ghost towns to appear in a large part of the Southern Plains. I think it's worth a read,

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-OwnedSold by: ggiezgg

  • Great Read

    Both my parents grew up during this time in America but not at the center of the dust bowl, so I've heard their stories about how tough things got.The story is genuinely heartbreaking but it also provided hope for the future back then how with proper stewardship of the land it will survive if used in the correct ways. The same type thing can happen again if we forget the past!

    Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-Owned