The
Worst Hard Time; The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan; Houghton Miflin
Co. publisher
I never learned much in school about the Dust Bowl in the Great
Plains of the United States, so when this book came to my attention it went right to my “must read “ list. “The
Worst Hard Time” was an interesting account of the environmental and natural disaster that took place from 1931-1939.
The author does a great job of intertwining biographical accounts with the statistics and historical perspective of
the event. I’m not sure why the Dust Bowl has flown under the radar in regards to important events
in U.S. history, but it’s possible it’s because other tragedies were occurring at the same time, namely The Great
Depression. Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas and Colorado saw a collection of circumstances come
together into the perfect storm that lasted nearly a decade. The book follows a number of individuals and
families through the moving mountains of dust and dirt. The accounts are incredible and hard to imagine;
five foot drifts of dirt from one storm, static electricity that could kill a cow, the air so black with dust they could literally
not see their hands in front of their faces. Dirt was carried by the winds as far east as New York City and even to freighters
in the Atlantic. The stories are inspiring as the pioneers struggled to keep their homesteads and feed their families.
Many lives were lost to “dust pneumonia” and other illnesses associated with the storms. The government’s
response to the disaster was slow in coming but eventually relief was sent and new farming techniques were developed to improve
the situation. As always it did not replace what was lost but helped some to survive a little longer.
The
book was well written and comes highly recommended. I’m glad I read it. Keeper of the
Light by Patty Metzer; publisher: Focus Publishing Inc. I have been hard to please lately
when it comes to Christian fiction. I stumbled upon this book in a resale shop and thought if nothing else
it would be a good summer read. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book I didn’t
want to put down, but this was one of those. The novel takes place at the lighthouse on Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1797. The
lighthouse keeper is required to have a family so in order to be hired he must bring along his sister. If
I tell you more it will ruin the story but the characters are richly developed and the setting is artistically described.
I could hear the surf and feel the sunshine and the wind as I read. Love, romance, danger, and excitement are all part
of the story. The lighthouse setting made the novel interesting as well as informative.
It was a pleasure to find the story line, though somewhat predictable, containing enough unexpected twists and turns
to make it enjoyable and suspenseful. The Christian emphasis came through the characters’ struggle
to trust God in difficult and unexplainable circumstances. Although the gospel message was not emphasized
strongly, the life of faith was evident and the author handled difficult situations with modesty and discretion, a matter
I appreciate greatly and have found lacking recently in Christian fiction. I loved the book and immediately
went to the internet to search for other titles by the same author. A great “beach” read for
the summer or a “curl up by the fireplace” book for the winter!
 |
|
Just a word
about "Book Jacket"
At first I felt compelled to provide reviews of new or at least recent books. Although
that may be the case at times I decided that really isn't who "Calico Woman" is. Calico Woman finds books
at thrift stores, second hand stores and garage sales. Oh yes...I do order new books and shop at my favorite bookstore,
but it is most likely you will find books here that I've been "meaning to read" for a long while. I will
make sure that they are still available to you either new or used or via the library. Happy Reading!
|
