Initial Reaction to Reading "The Worst Hard Time"

For purposes of discussion, my copy of the book is the Mariner Books 2006 paperback edition.

I enjoyed the book...it reads easily, paints vivid pictures of the times and tells a story. All aspects that I admire in a writer. Here and there, moments of déjà vu appeared (like when he reinforces images such as the apple vendors time and again)...but that's not a negative, per se.

It's a nonfiction book - so my expectations are that the contents are true and factual.

It's written by a journalist - so my expectations are that the author is skilled in grabbing the reader's attention. It is not written by a historian, so I'm not surprised by the use of endnotes rather than footnotes...however the lack of citations in the book is a little off-putting, because the endnotes do not clearly distinguish what is cited...only that there the source was referenced somewhere in the chapter.

The title advertises the book as "The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl".... so...it's a story. A true story, but one that is told with the benefit of hindsight. It also tries to tell the 'whole' story of a big region and a lot of people...which means that much of the history-telling is left to soundbites.

...but that's not necessarily a bad thing.