dustbowl

The Dust Bowl

The events inspired John Steinbeck's book "The Grapes of Wrath" which was also made into a film, many of protest singer Woody Guthrie's songs such as "Pastures of Plenty", and to some extent James Blish's "Cities in Flight" science fiction book series which features the "Okie" cities - from the name given to the refugees from Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl era.

The hero of "The Grapes of Wrath" was Tom Joad, hence the title of the recent Bruce Springsteen album "The Ghost of Tom Joad" which largely concerns itself with rural poverty in the USA and the plight of the Mexican immigrant workers in California's crop growing areas.

Several measures were taken in an attempt to prevent the problem recurring, but dry spells in recent years have proved that these measures have not been totally successful.

There is a vivid description of the Dust Bowl era in one chapter of James Michener's "Centennial".

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