Historical Book Club: The Worst Hard Time

The selections are typically nonfiction and discuss real world events and topics. This is a great opportunity to gain a new perspective, learn something new, and talk history with friends!

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dustbowl
Timothy Egan

September 7  |  Cotuit Library  |  6 pm

The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Timothy Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, he does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes, “the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgency and respect” (New York Times). In an era that promises ever-greater natural disasters, The Worst Hard Time is “arguably the best nonfiction book yet” (Austin Statesman Journal) on the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land and a powerful reminder about the dangers of trifling with nature.