The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

This is the story of the people who stayed behind during the Dust Bowl. Much has been written about those who migrated to get away from the misery, but we know little about the majority of the residents who stayed in place and rode it out.

The government encouraged farmers to plow up the natural buffalo grass, that anchored the soil of the Great Plains, and plant wheat. During World War I, they supplied Europe and America with millions of tons of grain, and became prosperous. However, in the process they destroyed the land, and when drought came in the 1930's, the winds blew away what was left. Residents lost everything they owned, including the land, and many died from malnutrition and 'black pneumonia'. The drought went on for eight years.

Having grown up with parents who lived through the 'Great Depression', I thought I knew a lot about it, but I learned that I didn't know it all! This book is a cautionary tale about our stewardship over the earth. If we destroy it, it may destroy us.

353 pages

Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel by Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls is an excellent storyteller.  I loved her memoir, The Glass Castle, but I enjoyed reading Half Broke Horses even more.   In Half Broke Horses, Walls shares to remarkable adventures of her maternal grandmother, Lily Casey Smith, to whom Walls feels a kindred spirit.  Like many heroines of the American Frontier, Lily Casey Smith is brave, resourceful, and no-nonsense.

272 pages.

Anybody Can Do Anything by Betty MacDonald

Some of you may recognize Betty MacDonald as the author of the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books.  But did you know that MacDonald wrote the Egg and I which was turned into a film starring Claudette Colbert and Fred McMurray? The book Anybody Can Do Anything describes how Betty MacDonald became a published writer after leaving her husband and the chicken farm so lovingly described in The Egg and I.  MacDonald packed up her two kids and hitched a ride back to Seattle to move back home with her mother, brother, and sisters.  The family survives the Great Depression in grand style, working every job they can, sharing their house and food with all they meet, and having a good time despite having no money!  256 p.

Twopence to Cross the Mersey by Helen Forrester

Helen Forrester was the oldest daughter of a family living above its means.  When the Great Depression hit England, her family lost their home and everything they owned. Her father decided that a move to Liverpool would improved their circumstances. Twopence to Cross the Mersey, is Helen Forrester's account of the consequences to the family, and especially to her, of that fateful decision. After reading her story, you will never take hot water and soap for granted again. 405 pages.

Now in November by Josephine Johnson

(Posted for Ann Roberts)

Continuing with my effort to read more Missouri authors, I checked out a book with great promise, as it gleaned a Pulitzer Prize in 1935 for 24-year-old Josephine Johnson, a Missouri native.  Johnson wrote the novel while living in her mother’s attic in Webster Groves.  Remarkable!  She also wrote poetry, short stories and eventually her memoir, which I would also like to read.  Now in November is the story of a poor family, struggling to make ends meet on mortgaged land during the Depression and a great drought. Compared to Ethan Frome and The Grapes of Wrath, Johnson is able to evoke the drudgery and hardship of the day-to-day struggle of farming during extreme drought and economic Depression.  The family consists of three daughters, mother and father, and the hired man, Grant, around whom much of the story unfolds.  The oldest of the three sisters, Kerrin, is mentally ill and tends toward anger and violence and becomes increasingly erratic in her behavior as Grant does not return her affections. Margret, the middle child, and narrator of the story, loves the land, beauty in nature, and Grant, too, and Merle, the youngest is high spirited and oblivious to the fact that Grant fancies her.  The story unfolds, as they work side-by-side to plant and tend the crops and animals on the farm. Written in beautiful prose, Now in November should be recommended reading for all Missouri students of literature.  It is a tragic, yet hopeful story, beautifully written.  231 pages, hardcover