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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Duncan, Dayton.
The Dust Bowl : an illustrated history / by Dayton Duncan; with a preface by Ken
Burns; picture research by Aileen Silverstone and Susan Shumaker.
pages cm.
Based on a film by Ken Burns, produced by Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns, and Julie
Dunfey, written by Dayton Duncan.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4521-0794-3
Endsheet image:
an i l l ust r a t e d h i s t o r y
dayton duncan
BASED ON A FILM BY ken burns
BY
Chapter 6
We lived in a brown world. The land was barren and brown. It seemed like most
of the houses were weather-beaten. The ground was brown; everything was brown.
There was just not much green. One lady who had moved here from Tennessee,
she even watered the thistles because they were the only green thing around. She didnt
realize it was a weed.
But in my life it was a brown world. And I didnt know any difference. It was all I
knew.
Dorothy Sturdivan Kleffman
Preceding pages:
A solitary girl stands on a sand
dune covering her front yard, near
Amarillo, Texas.
The small town of Mills, New Mexico,
in between storms (below) and in
the midst of swirling dust (opposite,
left).
112 T H E D U S T B O W L