For the folks who asked . . . this is the book I'm reading for my self-taught "Great American Dust Bowl" class. It's called The Worst Hard Time and it's by Timothy Egan. I'm already a ways into it and it's quite a good read. Lots of stuff about the decades leading up to the Dust Bowl and first-hand accounts of life during a time the author calls the worst man-caused disaster in American history. Most of my Dust Bowl knowledge to this point was what little they told us in school and what I came to understand from reading The Grapes of Wrath in 7th grade, so I'm learning a ton.
Mid-November PBS is running a new Ken Burns documentary on the Dust Bowl. I'm looking forward to finishing the book, reading more online, and then watching the documentary. When I stumble over interesting snippets of info or photos I'll let you know.
If you decide to read the book too I recommend you keep a close supply of water and moisturizer ~ I feel parched, dry and thirsty just reading about all that wind and dirt. SO much dirt that people are coughing it up. Eeew.
Looks like my kind of read (and my kind of de-parcher). So excited to hear about the new Ken Burns series! :D
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you teach yourself through literature and set yourself these goals to learn more. I am selfish and indulgent in my reading - I only read crime fiction or things that I know will be entertaining but not hard work. Lazy, I know! I did an English degree then a masters and all that reading...I still have anxiety dreams about leaving my thesis until the very last minute...*shudders*...
ReplyDeleteAll my learning is channeled into crafting and cooking at the moment, but I'm thinking I should branch out a bit.
Ahhh Gillian, that sort of nightmare used to sneak into my dreams from time to time... not getting a paper in on time...and those reading assignments argh ... panic...but somehow one day I received in the mail a paper that said I could claim a BA in Speech-Communications from SJSU...how DID that happen =)
DeleteI opt out for easy reading for the most part, gentle quiet romance, but I also like reading spiritually challenging books, from the Bible to Henri Nouwen, to Graham Cooke. This last week I started reading the autobiography of Kaffe Fassett, Dreaming in Color, which is a fascinating art course so far.
So many disasters challenge we humans, and perhaps the saddest are those we have brought upon ourselves for the most part. Your book looks very interesting, and the PBS program as well. Thanks for the post, Jenny :)
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