Abstract
An overview of the Dust Bowl of the 1930's.

Tags:the, dust, bowl

Abstract
In this article, the writer looks at two books that present both similar and differing views of the Dust Bowl, 'The Dust Bowl Diary' by Ann Marie Low and Donald Worster's 'Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s'. The writer maintains that despite the similarity within their topics both authors explore the topic through vastly different lenses. The writer points out that for Ann Marie Low, the Dust Bowl was her childhood and the vivid imagery and feelings that she expresses in her book colors the human nature of the Dust Bowl and the stories and feelings of those individuals who survived through this time. The writer then notes that Donald Worster approaches the topic of the Dust Bowl through the lenses of a scientist and sociologist and he approaches the problems associated with the Dust Bowl through a much more detailed and detached manner than Low. The writer concludes that while Low and Worster's accounts of the Dust Bowl are from differing perspectives, they share similarities in content and narrative description.

From the Paper
"Mary Ann Low's "Bust Bowl Diary" was an important literary piece because it accurate encapsulates the conditions of the people living within the Dust Bowl period. Her narrative is colored by personal observation rather that research and thus her narrative appears much more in depth and three dimensional than Worster's account. Low uses first person narrative through this book and this is extremely important to her story. This is because she writes from the perspective of her actual age during the Dust Bowl era, 12 years old. She explains that the dust bowl permeated every area of life and as a result implicitly changed the way that individuals during that era lived and worked."

Tags:storm, farming, poverty, ecology

Abstract
Traditional explanations of the Dust Bowl emphasize the lack of rain as the fundamental cause of the severe dust storms that struck the southern plains. This paper discusses additional reasons for the Dust Bowl such as poor agricultural practices and years of sustained drought. The paper describes the effect the Dust Bowl had on the inhabitants.

From the Paper
"Americans tend to confuse the "Dust Bowl," a region plagued by dust storms in the 1930s, with the mass migration of "Okies and Arkies" to California that occurred in the same decades. Many people were forced to leave the Dust Bowl for California. But the majority of 1930s migrants, even migrants from Oklahoma, came from regions of the country largely unaffected by the dust storms.

The whole concept of a Dust Bowl migration is a wonderful misnomer. Most of the people had nothing to do with the Dust Bowl region. Most really weren't victims of the drought either. A lot of them weren't even farmers."

Tags:John, Steinbeck, Grapes, of, Wrath, Great, Plains, Oklahoma, drought, Route, 66, Okies

Abstract
This paper examines the causes of the original Dust Bowl, tackling issues such as soil composition, climatological factors, and farmer negligence. It also addresses the continuing threat of another Dust Bowl-like crisis and what needs to be done to ensure that it does not happen

From the Paper
"The assertion that even without human-induced blunders there would have been at least somewhat of a crisis in the 30's seems like a distinct possibility. There was a definite shift in climate, consisting of severe blizzards, prolonged severe drought, and even a flood to start it all off. Temperature swings between summer and winter were even more severe than usual and dry spells and occasional downpours seemed to strike at the most inopportune moments time and time again (Bonnifield, 1979). Taking these things into account, it seems that even without over-planting, lack of erosion-control and other human mistakes, some sort of agricultural downturn would have taken place."

Tags:agriculture, america, erosion, farming, plains, soil, wind

Abstract
The paper shows how the era of the Dust Bowl was an era of mass migration as thousands moved from the region where drought and other factors had ruined the farmland to California, believed to be the land of milk and honey and opportunity. The paper explores how the Dust Bowl and the mass migration it fostered are well illustrated in the novel "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck, and both the novel and the era it depicts are further illuminated by the article "Steinbeck, Guthrie and Popular Culture" by Elaine S. Apthorp. The paper further shows how the novel and the article complement one another and contribute to our understanding of the era and of the way Steinbeck shaped that era into an artistic statement in his novel.

From the Paper
"The didactic chapters referred to by Apthorp are the interchapters where Steinbeck performs the analytical task of reporting on the state of America during the Depression, the plight of the people, and other information included with a journalistic eye for what is most telling. In these interchapters, Steinbeck seems to step back from the story to examine the larger picture, but in truth, the author never forgets the reality faced by his characters. For instance, the different members of the family have characteristics which add to their problems and which also reflect larger forces at the same time. Grandpa Joad, for instance, is senile, and this symbolizes the vulnerability of the entire family."

Tags:migrant, workers, Great, Depression, Joad, family

Abstract
This paper examines how Timothy Egan's book "The Worst Hard Times" is a chronicle of the American Dust Bowl, when drought combined over-farming and other poor agricultural practices lead to the complete depletion of the soil of the American West. The result was the loss of the livelihood of countless American farmers and a traditional American institution, the small family farm. In particular, the paper discusses how Egan's explanation of this time in history revolves not around why it happened and why so many farmers chose to leave the area and become migrants, but rather on what may be the more difficult question of why so many farmers chose to stay on their farms, long after they were no longer profitable. The paper also looks at how his central thesis revolves around the unique character of the settlers to the area, as well as the character of the land--the arid, depleted land demanded such resistance to the natural cycles of nature that people did not farm with the land, but against it.

From the Paper
"According to Egan, the physical causes of the Dust Bowl were both environmental and man-made. The areas that were most affected of the American plains, encompassing much of the Midwest and Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and of course Oklahoma (leading to the term 'Oakies' for the migrants from the area) was once great, fertile, sprawling grasslands filled with buffalo. The grass anchored the soil and the native tribes hunted the buffalo. Because the tribes existed in fairly sparse numbers, the balance of animal, man, and nature was perfect. But then the natives were pushed off the land, and massive waves of buffalo hunting and cattle farming by white settlers eradicated the grass on the arid soil. Destroying the buffalo and grazing cattle on the dry plains, which were daily whipped by fierce winds, created poor soil conditions and upset the delicate ecosystem that was already characterized by little rain, and dry, mineral-poor soil. When the cattle farmers left, few people wanted the land, except for poor, determined immigrants, desperate for their own small plots in a rapidly shrinking American heartland. The people who moved in were called 'sodbusters,' because of the grit and steely determination it required to break the surface of the plains."

Tags:great, depression, American, West

Abstract
This paper addresses the possible causes of the Dust Bowl phenomenon and how and why it led to the mass exodus of people from the Great Plains to California.

From the Paper
"The Great Depression marked a time of economic disaster in the United States. Between 1930 and 1941, Great Plains farmers witnessed the worst drought in the country's history (Henretta 709). This and many other factors led to the period that has become known as the Dust Bowl. This period in time is called the Dust Bowl because "Dust seeped into houses and blackened the pillow around one's head, the dinner plates on the table, the bread dough on the back of the stove" (Henretta 709). The term Dust Bowl was created by an Associated Press staff writer, Robert Geiger, in response to the things he saw in Guymon, Oklahoma. Within months, it was the term used throughout the nation to describe the wind-blown land throughout Kansas, southeastern Colorado, the Oklahoma Panhandle, the northern two-thirds of the Texas Panhandle, and northeastern New Mexico (Logsdon 3). The Dust Bowl affected the lives of everyone in the United States, not just those of farmers in the Great Plains area. Knowledge of the Dust Bowl is important because this disaster could be repeated due to both its natural, economic, and social causes. "

Tags:california, depression, great, migration, weather, migration, okies, Woody, Guthrie, Joad, Roosevelt, new, deal, grapes, wrath, rattletrap, Steinbeckplains, draught, california

Abstract
This essay will examine Woody Guthrie's "Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues" and Loretta Lynn's "I'm a Honk Tonk Girl" in the context of Charles Seeger and Theodor Adorno's discussion of the relationship between popular music and the industry which seeks to shape and market it within a structure that values and privileges product and commodity.

Abstract
"Certain push-pull factors affected the Joad family as depicted in the novel by John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath. Such factors either push people from one are to another or pull them with promises of change and betterment.

From the Paper
"Certain push-pull factors affected the Joad family as depicted in the novel by John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath. Such factors either push people from one are to another or pull them with promises of change and betterment. Both factors operate in the story of the Joads, for they are pushed off their land in the Dust Bowl and are pulled to a new life in California. In both cases, they are given little choice in what happens to them. These people have hopes and dreams in their original home and find these dashed by the drought and by the Depression affecting the nation. They develop new hopes and dreams on their journey to California, only to find these dashed as well because the state of California is overloaded and does not want to support any more people fleeing the Dust Bowl. The one thing that keeps the family going is a certain internal ..."

Abstract
This paper examines David Cassuto's view on John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath," and discusses how the Dust Bowl may not have been only a natural disaster, but rather one exacerbated by economic hardships. This paper talks about the economic hardships and the unfairness of the economic situation as it is described by Steinbeck. The author shows that misuse of land to provide crops for the whole country during World War I led to a misuse of water which, in turn, led to the Dust Bowl.

From the Paper
"However, in this novel, water creates economic divisions that are found in free societies generally. Cassuto notes that the primary difference between growers and migrants is in their relative relationships to water. "The growers--owners of the irrigation channels, centrifugal pumps, and watertight mansions, control it--while the Okies, starving and drenched, are at its mercy" (Cassuto, 1993, p. 67+).
The various types of economic conduct Steinbeck sprinkles throughout The Grapes of Wrath are predicated on the issue of having water, or not having it."

Tags:water, economics, dust, bowl, great, plains, homestead, act