Dust Bowl, USA: Depression America and the Ecological Imagination, 1929–1941

by Brad D. Lookingbill

Whether romantic or tragic, accounts of the dramatic events surrounding the North American Dust Bowl of the “dirty thirties” unearthed anxieties buried deep in America’s ecological imagination. Moreover, the images of a landscape of fear remain embedded in the national consciousness today. In vivid form, the aesthetic of suffering captured in Dorothea Lange’s photographs and Woody Guthrie’s folk songs created the myths and memories of the Depression generation. Dust Bowl, USA is a critical examination of the stories that grew out of the Dust Bowl experience. Across the nation, newspapers, magazines, books, films, and songs produced imagery of blight for local and mass audiences. As new technology, irrigation innovations, and conservation programs were introduced on a wide scale during the 1930s, the saga of the frontier continued to unfold through accounts of dust, drought, and desertification. In piercing the myths brought forth in legends, lore, allegories, and anecdotes, Brad Lookingbill provides a revelatory insight into the history of the cultural narratives that have come to define an era.

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 2001

Reviews

[Mathew Powers]

This 129pp book (really 119 -- ten pages are pictures) is a nice little story about the public perceptions and social history regarding the Dust Bowl. There are some dry parts to this book and no one would confuse this book with a deep examination of the subject matter. But, it really shows how the myth of history not only shapes perceptions of a story, but defines a culture -- including public and private policy. For instance, his chapter on "survivors" notes how The Dust Bowl farmers were labeled as survivors and heroes in various types (and numerous amounts) of literary sources. Furthermore, they are lumped into the crowd that survived homesteading, the Santa Fe trail, and settling the American frontier -- in the spirit of Fredrick Jackson Turner. In the end, the Dust Bowl becomes another story of Americana and the human will to prevail. However, it also instills a notion that one can overcome one's environment, rather than realize a necessity to understand one's limits within nature.

Again, not a deep or intense book, it is an interesting perspective and well worth the read. It only takes a few hours to read, trust me. :)