The Dust Bowl through the Lens: How Photography Revealed and Helped Remedy a National Disaster (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Dust Bowl through the Lens: How Photography Revealed and Helped Remedy a National Disaster Elizabeth Bush Sandler, Martin W. The Dust Bowl through the Lens: How Photography Revealed and Helped Remedy a National Disaster. Walker, 2009 96p. illus. with photographs ISBN 978-0-8027-9547-2 $19.99 R Gr. 5–9 Thanks in large part to the exceptional cadre of Works Progress Administration and Farm Security Association photographers who documented American life in the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, subsequent generations have come to envision those dire times through a gallery of now iconic images. Despite the subtitle, there’s no real discussion of the photographs “remedying” the disaster, but Sandler gathers a moving selection of photographs and situates them as centerpieces in the full-spread mini-chapters in which he organizes his presentation, and the pictures successfully convey the depletion of the land, the rolling black clouds, the wasted farms, and the destitute Okies. The brevity of the chapters make this an unintimidating [End Page 259] entree to children unfamiliar with the Dust Bowl, and substantial quotations from farmers who abandoned their farms or rode out the disaster praying for rain are every bit as gripping as the photographs. End matter includes source notes, photo credits, lists for children’s further reading, map, and index. Copyright © 2010 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois