Letters from the Dustbowl Book

This book was recommended to me by a coworker. It is not something I would pick up and read of my own accord. I remember him mentioning it to me and absentmindedly agreeing that it sounded interesting. The next day he handed it to me. It hung around in my bedroom for a few days while I wrapped up some other reading I was doing.

I don't like to borrow things from people for a long time. I like to read it or play it or watch it and then give it back as soon as I can. I dreaded picking it up. I worried it would be dull and, if you'll allow me the pun, dry.

What I found instead was an amazing set of letters and other bits of writing from an incredible woman. Caroline Henderson's firsthand experience of the Dust Bowl in the Oklahoma panhandle became an important part of Ken Burns' 2012 documentary.

While the Dust Bowl letters are important and interesting, Henderson's whole life story is its own compelling tale. The text of the book encompasses her whole homesteading endeavor. Disillusioned with a teaching job, Henderson moved to Oklahoma to fulfill a kind of naturalistic desire. She married the man who dug her well, in a cute anecdote from early in the book.

The minutiae of farm life are elevated off the page by Henderson's excellent literary talent. There are pieces of writing completed as part of her pursuance of a Master's degree in literature. Her words and descriptions seem almost effortless, coming from gift I suppose.

When things were good, they were good. Celebrating the birth of a new calf or sharing a joy of reading with her husband, it's hard not to fall in love with the idea of everything she depicts. When things were bad, they were bad. Henderson was traumatized by her experiences in the Dust Bowl, always tending towards anxious thoughts about how it could get bad again. Regretting not doing more with her education, the death of her son-in-law, even the death of a farm cat comes through with such clear pathos.

There are so many little moments in this book that I cherish and I hope I always will. Caroline Henderson fulfilling her dream before getting married, her daughter Eleanor completing a college education and becoming a doctor before getting married. A Communist man who got beat up for his views becomes a correspondent. Caroline's political views are very interesting. She never quite agrees with the man, Eli Jaffe, but does feel the imbalance of power his views seek to right. There are moments in the back of the book where Henderson is worrying unnecessarily about her husband's failing hearing, or how much electricity they used that month. The last chapter takes a bit of a dark turn.

It's almost too much. There's a voyeuristic quality to reading someone's letters. Would the book be better as a dramatization of the Hendersons' lives? I would hardly argue so. Caroline Henderson's writing is so much a part of her that to take a step back from it would take the soul out of the stories contained in the text. It's a quick read with Henderson's letters usually being brief. It covers a large amount of time and her comments on current events are always interesting. It's a perfect encapsulation of the human spirit and well worth a read.