The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

 If you are unaware of the time in American history known as the Dust Bowl, you really need to read The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (or perhaps better yet, read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck).  Hannah, through the life of her protagonist, Elsa, gives a clear and desperate picture of the plight of farmers in the Midwest who lost everything due to the droughts of the late 1930s.  No rain, meant no crops and no crops meant the people were forced off the land as the banks foreclosed.  Thousands of these desperate people packed what they could and headed to California on the promise of plentiful jobs helping with the abundant harvests.  What they found when they arrived in this promised land was greedy and unethical farm owners who forced near slave labor onto the hapless migrants.  This book describes the life the migrants faced but more importantly, it forces the reader to look at the treatment these people received at the hands of the powerful land owners.  It is heartbreaking to view the total lack of humanity the workers dealt with and the way their lives devolved into chaos and poverty.  I must say that to me, this book was not up to the standard of Steinbeck, but others in my book club disagreed.  I think you cannot go wrong reading either of these books if you are unaware of the time period.  I truly believe we all need to force ourselves to be more aware of the plight of the underprivileged and the ugly truth that often their suffering could be alleviated or at least lessened by kindness and a helping hand.