Reviews: (by author)

Cooper, Michael L. Dust To Eat Drought and Depression in the 1930s. New York: Clarion Books, 2004. $15.00. ISBN 0-618-15449-3. 81pp.

This book tells the story of the two calamities that affected the United States during the 1930s. The Great Depression was the initial disaster. The Dust Bowl mainly affected people who lived in Oklahoma and parts of Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. The book describes why many people in the Dust Bowl area lost their homes and were forced to look elsewhere for work. John Steinbeck is mentioned throughout the book since he went to many of the migrant camps and later wrote The Grapes of Wrath based on his observations. During Steinbeck’s visits he noticed and reported how many people, especially children, were starving and forced to live in unsanitary conditions. He also reported the bias against migrant workers, in particular people from Oklahoma. This book also informs the reader of the initiation of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) which helped migrant workers to find jobs paving roads, building bridges, or building schools. The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was also established to help out of work farmers get back into farming by being paid to produce fewer crops. Social Security is also established during this period. The book ends with the beginning of WWII, which created jobs for the displaced workers.

Cooper does a superb job of informing the reader about a critical period in US history that caused many people to become homeless and find themselves and their families in horrendous situations. The photos in the book show the hardships endured. I recommend this book as an informative piece of history not always explained as thoroughly as it is here.

Recommended
Tracy L. Frie

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