What a sad past our nation has. This book was a Historical account of what happened in the Great American Dust Bowl. It is the stories of those that stayed.
I didn't even know about the dust storms before reading this book. I always imagined Little House On The Prairie, sweet innocent and always turning out nice and happy. This was not a happy time right after the depression. It actually started before that. Wheat and cows were the culprit. Human error. Check out some of these pictures of the Dust Bowl.
Not only did the topsoil become airborne but there were droughts, starvation, and a total imbalance in the ecosystem. Grasshoppers, rabbits and centipedes in abundance, but no more native grass in the grazing lands were left. Buffalo were killed and cows came to take their place but eventually didn't have enough water to survive. All the Indians were kicked off (first big mistake). People were greedy for land and farming a land that never should have been farmed.
People and children were dying of dust related illnesses. Livestock also drowned in the dust. Cities were turned into ghost towns. After a big dust storm everything would get coated and the dust went everywhere.
I don't' know if it was stupidity that some stayed, there wasn't much work and there wasn't any land anywhere else. It all seems so long ago but it wasn't. 1933 was just a lifetime away from me. Pres. Roosevelt tried to help but it was kind of too late.
I am grateful I didn't have to live during the depression or dust storms... I wonder what we will see in the future that is hard, maybe as hard as what these people went through....
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