Rooted in Dust: Surviving Drought and Depression in Southwestern Kansas (Rural America) - Softcover

Riney-Kehrberg, Pamela

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0700608397 ISBN 13: 9780700608393

Publisher: University Press of Kansas, 1997

Synopsis

Fontell Littrell's grandmother was a devout Latter-Day Saint. But when Fontell's father turned to bootlegging and poker to support an extended family of ten during the dirty thirties, her grandmother took it in stride "The Lord works in mysterious ways, his miracles to perform," she rationalized. The Litrells' story and those of thousands of others who rode out the dust bowl in southwest Kansas are the focus of Pamela Riney-Kehrberg's study of survival in a drought-ridden decade. Unlike other historians, who have dwelt on those who fled hardship, Riney-Kehrberg concentrates on the majority--three-quarters of the population--who endured. Examining the social impact of drought and depression, she illustrates how both farm and town families dealt with the deprivation by finding odd jobs, working in government programs, or depending on federal and private assistance. Years of tribulation, she shows, affected standards of living, family relationships, city and county finances, land ownership, farm prices and production, population shifts, and politics (traditionally staunchly Republican, southwest Kansas twice voted for Roosevelt). Looking also at the environmental impact, Riney-Kehrberg presents both the negative and positive sides of farming practices and governmental intervention. Most Kansas persvered for nearly ten years, Riney-Kehrberg emphasizes, and how they adapted indelibly altered their outlook and plans for the future. More than fifty years later, the devastating dust storms continue to affect agricultural practices and policy and the population of southwest Kansas.

About this title

Review

"A significant contribution to the environmental and social history of the Dust Bowl. Riney-Kehrberg describes the most forgotten figures in the history of the Dust Bowl, those who remained on the land. In rich detail, she paints a picture of remarkable tenacity and inventiveness among those who hung on month by month."Environmental History

"This book transforms farmers from villains in a man-made environmental disaster into stubborn optimists with heroic perseverance. The people of southwest Kansas come alive, with recognizable personalities, foibles, and prejudices. This is an excellent social history of that extraordinary time."Great Plains Quarterly

"Provides new information and insight concerning the attitudes, coping mechanisms, ingenuity, and despair of the people who populated a part of the Dust Bowl. Full of rich information."Western Historical Quarterly

"Recommended reading for anyone concerned with the history of environmental and public welfare policies, as well as agricultural history and rural social history."American Historical Review

"A finely crafted social history. Stark and evocative photos enhance the work."Journal of American History

"Riney-Kehrberg makes a great contribution to our understanding of the Depression in rural and small town America. She illustrates the exhaustion of those who faced year after year of economic and ecological devastation and the creativity with which they met these obstacles. Her descriptions of everyday life in the years of drought and blowing dust are excellent."Mary Neth, author of Preserving the Family Farm

"An excellent social history of the Dust Bowl. A major contribution to the history of the Great Plains."R. Douglas Hurt, author of The Dust Bowl: An Agricultural and Social History

Synopsis

A significant contribution to the environmental and social history of the Depression in rural and small town America. Riney-Kehrberg illustrates the exhaustion of those who faced year after year of economic and ecological devastation, and the creativity with which they met these obstacles.

Edition details

• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0700608397
• ISBN 13: 9780700608393
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 250