THE DUST BOWL THROUGH THE LENS

A unique approach to chronicling the Dust Bowl disaster focuses on the role photographers played in bringing the hardships of victims to national attention. The author notes that in the 1930s photographers were still discovering new possibilities for the relatively new medium. Rather than simply document the desperate circumstances, such photographers as Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and Arthur Rothstein used their work to raise the national social conscience and shock the government into action. Each page of text explains some aspect of the Dust Bowl, Great Depression or details on the art of photography and is paired with a photograph. Prefacing the text are quotes from Dust Bowl victims and such notables as Woody Guthrie and John Steinbeck. The one-page-per-topic approach can be frustrating, as some are worthy of more detail than what’s given. More background information about the photographers would also have been welcome. Overall, though, Sandler offers an interesting perspective on the power photography has to shape public opinion and inspire social change. (sources, further reading/surfing, index [not seen]) (Nonfiction. 10-14)