Dust Bowl, U. S. A.: Depression America and the Ecological Imagination, 1929-1941

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Dust Bowl, USA is a critical examination of the myths and memories that grew out of the hard times in the Great Plains. Across the nation, newspapers, magazines, books, films, and songs produced imagery of blight for local and mass audiences. As modern technology, irrigation projects, and government programs were extended on a wider scale during the "dirty thirties," the saga of the frontier continued to unfold through accounts of dust, drought, and depression." "By examining the social construction of legends, lore, allegories, and ideologies. Brad Lookingbill provides a revelatory insight into the history of the cultural narratives that have come to define an era."--BOOK JACKET.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Lookingbill (history, Columbia Coll.) presents a synthesis of firsthand accounts of the Dust Bowl crisis in the 1930s from books, newspapers, photographs, films, and popular songs. Beginning with "conquest" of the land, the six chapters track the progression of the affective interface between humans and the Great Plains environment in light of the dust storms and related social and economic crises during the Great Depression. As a cultural narrative, this work is more literary than James Malin's The Grassland of North America (privately published, 1947) and more encompassing geographically than Donald Worster's Dust Bowl (1979). Exploring old and new explanations of the disaster, Dust Bowl, USA is an engaging and moving metanarrative of the region. It also contains an excellent bibliography. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Daniel Liestman, Kansas State Univ. Libs, Manhattan Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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