Educational Resources for
Orem Reads The Worst Hard Time
Book List:
Dust Bowl Diary by Ann Marie Low (978.4 L95)
A personal diary relating the "gritty nightmare" of life in the Southern Plains during the Dust Bowl.
Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s by Donald Worster (978.032 W8986)
Worster describes the Dust Bowl in ecological as well as human terms in this classic chronicle of life in 1930's America.
American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California by James N. Gregory (304.8794 G8624)
Gregory documents the historical facts of the Dust Bowl and Great Depresssion beyond Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and Dorothea Lange's WPA photographs.
Book List For Children:
Years of Dust: The Story of the Dust Bowl by Albert Marrin (J 978.032 M3495)
Discusses the lethal dust storms of the Dust Bowl years and how they changed American history.
The Dust Bowl Through the Lens: How Photography Revealed and Helped Remedy a National Disasterby Martin Sandler (J 973.917 Sa569)
Discusses the WPA photographers and their attempts to document the hardships of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression.
Suggested Websites:
Library of Congress
This Library of Congress collection contains photographs from WPA photographers capturing American life during the Depression and Dust Bowl.
The Dust Bowl
A collection of photos and a bibliography about the Dust Bowl from Kansas State University.
America in the 1930's
The American Studies department at the University of Virginia put together this library of projects on America in the Great Depression.
Smithsonian Channel
Soul of a People: Writing America's Story This Smithsonian produced documentary features one of the most controversial government programs of its time. WPA authors and artists documented American lives during the Great Depression.
New York Times
Articles and resources about the Great Depression in the archives of the New York Times.
History Channel
This website produced by the History channel provides articles, videos and photographs of life during the Great Depression.
PBS
A collection of articles, interviews and videos about the Great Depression and Dust Bowl provided by PBS.
