The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

I started out wanting to read this book because I thought it would give me some insight into the crop insurance program (my current profession) and maybe even into why it was so important for the farmers in the midwest. All I could say when I was finished with this book was wow, wow and wow. It's hard to believe or imagine such a difficult life for so long as is described in this book. A decade of hardship, death. Dust bowl. Black blizzards. No income for four years or more. Planting crops year after year only to see them fail for one reason or another. Ten years of drought following the depression. Children dying of dust pneumonia. I wonder if this is our just dessert after running the Indians off the land. Tearing out all the grassland and running the buffalo off the land, to plant wheat and corn. I keep thinking about this book in the recesses of my mind even after I've finished it. I've been looking for pictures of Dalhart, TX on the internet, which is one of the largest cities hit. I think of those people that complain/abuse the federal crop insurance program and I think they should read this book. Some fo thephotos in the book have etched their way into my mind. Having been in a few dust storms myself, where you can't even see in front of you, it's very scary to think of decade of these daily. There were so many factors that led to these dust storms. Man's misuse of the land, and the subsequent abondonment. This is one of those books that makes you think and makes you want to know more. FDR seems to have had such an important role in bringing the midwest out of this (besides the rain coming back) that I want to read a book on him next and maybe some more on the dust bowl.