The Worst Hard Time

When I start my reading vacation, I'm always fearful that I won't remember the first book. I don't think that's going to be the case this year. Tim Egan's THE WORST HARD TIME is, in the words of Walter Cronkite, "can't-put-it-down history" and I think that he is dead-on because, well, I didn't put it down. Winner of the National Book Award, Egan tells the true story of life on America's high plains during the darkest period of the 20th Century: the dust storms that ravaged our nation during the depression.

In all candor, all I could roust of the dust bowl were Steinbeck-era references, but Egan pulled me right into the lives of the people that the dust storm destroyed. Although I will admit to having a hard time keeping the timeline and geography straight sometimes, I couldn't put the book down. The movie in my mind is frightful. Recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Worst-Hard-Time-Survived-American/dp/0618773479/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198470448&sr=8-1