They moved in and with the use of new mechanized farming techniques, tore up the native prairie, exposing the fertile topsoil to the relentless wind of the plains. Settlers and investors moved in eager for a chance at land ownership and easy money. This land was previously unsettled by Europeans, and when the native buffalo was killed off and the price of wheat rose after WWI, this area became prime real estate. The book chronicles the settling of the last American frontier: the high plains of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, Texas and Oklahoma. I studied this era in school, and I knew some of the historical facts about the Dust Bowl, but Egan’s book revealed a true picture of the events, place, and the people who lived through it. I later found out the documentary is based on The worst hard time : the untold story of those who survived the great American dust bowl by Timothy Egan. The film ran over two evenings and I was truly moved by the stories. In November, I was lucky enough to catch the Ken Burns documentary The Dust Bowl on PBS.
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