Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
May 2002
Abstract
In his introduction to Dust Bowl USA, Brad Lookingbill states that a historian "makes an archeological expedition into the ecological imagination, ending with stories about stories quite different from where each actually began." Lookingbill's book catalogs these stories about stories; accounts of the Dust Bowl and Depression in newspapers, popular magazines, novels, personal accounts, art, photography, and government documents create a history of the changes in our understanding of Great Plains ecology.
The book is divided into chapters with such titles as "Survivor" and "Legacy" that focus on the persistent attitudes each label reflects. In the chapter "Fall," for example, the author cites religious and secular sources that equate dust and the Depression with tales of disobedience to God or the ruin of civilization. Other chapters focus on emerging theories of soil - - and crop management and the results of the federal government's efforts to use these ideas to regulate agricultural production.
Comments
Published in Great Plains Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 2 (Spring 2002). Published by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Copyright © 2000 Center for Great Plains Studies. Used by permission.