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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good book, but not Marrin's best, October 6, 2009
This review is from: Years of Dust (Hardcover)
I am a huge fan of Albert Marrin. I have made it a point of buying any of his books I can, even the ones out of print. He is engaging and makes the time period come alive. I was looking forward to getting this book for months because of it. On the whole he does a good job explaining the causes and results of the dust bowl. If you are a visual person (I am not, I focus almost exclusively on the text), the pictures are worth the price of the book. I had hoped however that there would be more history and a little less environmentalism in the book.
As a teacher, I would recommend this book in conjunction with a fiction work such as Irene Hunt's No Promises in the Wind as a great way for high schoolers to understand the depression.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a stunningly haunting tale about the "worst environmental disaster in American history!", November 23, 2009
This review is from: Years of Dust (Hardcover)
The ominous black cloud crept across the landscape. It wasn't just any cloud, but was one that carried so much destruction with it, that it was dubbed "black blizzard." Drought had hit the great plains and ultimately it would be considered the "worst environmental disaster in American history." It was something that many looked at as a freak of nature, but looking back in time it was something that could have been totally avoided and began with the innocuous destruction of a "keystone animal," the buffalo. The buffalo was the one animal that so many others depended on in order to survive, but no one could foretell the maelstrom that would arrive. In 1886-87 the "Big Die-Up" began. In the 1920s the "Great Plow-Up" began and more than 5,260,000 acres of grassland were lost to the plow. Disaster was coming.
The grass roots that had held the soil were no longer there. Seasonal crops like corn and wheat soon depleted the soil and their shallow root systems would hold nothing beyond their season. The ground cover was gone and the dust began to swirl for "farmers had sown the seeds of a unique tragedy--a tragedy totally beyond their experience. The Dust Bowl." People began to suffer and die of unusual things such as black lung and the grit from the dust would cut into their lungs. In the 1930s, 250,000 boys and girls joined the ranks of the hobos, roaming the countryside in search of food. Photographer Dorothea Lange went in search of the people and her photographs became a haunting reminder of a disaster that didn't have to happen. Too many people suffered and died needlessly.
I was very impressed with this book from the first page to the last. Somehow I was not expecting this book to tie into the ecological consequences of the dust bowl starting with the decimation of the buffalo herds. When I looked at the covers, I expected nothing more than another Steinbeckish type book discussing the Okies, Black Sunday and the New Deal. According to the author this book blends two stories: the ecology of the Great Plains and how people "invited disaster." This blend provided a stunning new look at the dust bowl and the horrific consequences that happen when land is misused. Toward the end of the book an eye is cast toward China and hints at how they are inviting ecological disaster. The sepia toned photographs are simply amazing and add just the right amount of cement to make this book a masterpiece. In the back of the book is an index, a glossary, notes, a bibliography and additional recommended book resources.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not Just for Younger Readers, August 18, 2011
This review is from: Years of Dust (Hardcover)
I'll admit that I didn't know a lot about the Dust Bowl before reading the historical romance novel, The Happy Immortals, that was set back then and also in 1949. Since falling in love with that book, I've become a voracious reader of anything I can get my hands on relating to the Dust Bowl, the Panhandle, etc.
Years of Dust is such a powerful book. Even though it is written for younger readers, it is an important work for anyone, regardless of age, who wants to discover what those years meant.
What happened during the 1930s during the "dusters" is a very important part of our country's history, and the more we understand about the bittersweet blend of hope, despair, and courage that came from the experiences of those years--all is vital to discovering what led to the 1940s and beyond.
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