The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl is a history book by Timothy Egan.    He is a New York times journalist who has written a number of well-researched books, a few of which I have read.     This book was written in 2006 and it is about the people who lived through the Great Depression Dust Bowl.   Natural grasslands were tilled to become farmlands with the newly-invented tractors, but drought conditions in the 1930’s dried up the soil and winds blew dust across the lands.     Many farmers came down with dust pneumonia and farm crops were ruined.     The book tells the stories of some of the settlers who lived in Texas and Oklahoma through this time.

Egan tells the tales with well-researched historical information and context, but there is also dramatic and moving accounts told by people who lived through the ordeal.    This is a rich and rewarding book, one for everyone to read.   Recommended – 4.7 out of 5.0 stars4.7

• I have read and recommend other books by Timothy Egan, including Lasso the Wind, The Good Rain, and The Big Burn.
• Egan has won the Pulitzer Prize for reporting and for this book, The National Book Award.