The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since. Timothy Egan's critically acclaimed account rescues this iconic chapter of American history from the shadows in a tour de force of historical reportage. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, Egan does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes, "the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgency and respect" (New York Times). In an era that promises ever-greater natural disasters, "The Worst Hard Time" is "arguably the best nonfiction book yet" (Austin Statesman Journal) on the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land and a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of trifling with nature.

蒂莫西· 伊根，畢業於華盛頓大學，曾在《泰晤士報》擔任全國新聞記者，遊曆西方，因參與係列報道《美國的種族生活》而與一組記者分享瞭2001年的普利策新聞奬。目前，他為《紐約時報》撰寫在綫評論專欄，著有多部非虛構作品。2006年因《骯髒的三十年代：沙塵暴中的美國人》一書榮獲當年的美國國傢圖書奬非虛構作品奬。