- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: OUP USA; Reprint edition (5 Sep 1991)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0195071360
- ISBN-13: 978-0195071368
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.7 x 1.9 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,084,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
American Exodus
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Product Description
Product Description
Fifty years ago, John Steinbeck's now classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath, captured the epic story of an Oklahoma farm family driven west to California by dust storms, drought, and economic hardship. It was a story that generations of Americans have also come to know through Dorothea Lange's unforgettable photos of migrant families struggling to make a living in Depression-torn California. Now in James N. Gregory's pathbreaking American Exodus, there is at last an historical study that moves beyond the fiction and the photographs to uncover the full meaning of these events. American Exodus takes us back to the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and the war boom influx of the 1940s to explore the experiences of the more than one million Oklahomans, Arkansans, Texans, and Missourians who sought opportunities in California. Gregory reaches into the migrants' lives to reveal not only their economic trials but also their impact on California's culture and society. He traces the development of an "Okie subculture" that over the years has grown into an essential element in California's cultural landscape. The consequences, however, reach far beyond California. The Dust Bowl migration was part of a larger heartland diaspora that has sent millions of Southerners and rural Midwesterners to the nation's northern and western industrial perimeter. American Exodus is the first book to examine the cultural implications of that massive 20th-century population shift. In this rich account of the experiences and impact of these migrant heartlanders, Gregory fills an important gap in recent American social history.
About the Author
James N. Gregory is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley.
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First Sentence
"NOT QUITE THE TWANG OF THE MIDWEST NOR THE DRAWL OF THE DEEP SOUTH, but a composite of both," an observer once said of the Oklahoma and Texas accents she heard in California. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
"NOT QUITE THE TWANG OF THE MIDWEST NOR THE DRAWL OF THE DEEP SOUTH, but a composite of both," an observer once said of the Oklahoma and Texas accents she heard in California. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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8 reviews
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
A great companion to Grapes of Wrath
22 Nov 2000
Format:Paperback
James Gregory has put together a outstanding history of the migration and culture of the dust bowl migrants who settled in California. I have probably read Grapes of Wrath four or five times since first reading it in high school, but after reading Gregory's description of the way these poor south-westerners struggled with poverty and at the same time maintained family unity and cultural pride, Steinbeck's book takes on a whole new meaning. Gregory goes step by step to show what motivated many to move, and then what motivated them to stay even though they suffered great privations and predjudice. I especially enjoyed learning about the influences of country music not just upon the migrants, but on the entire nation. A must read to make Grapes more clear!
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Excellent overview
17 Feb 2000
Format:Paperback
This book provides an excellent overview of the history of the dust bowl Okies and the culture they (we) have created in central California. Gregory explores the religion, music, and politics well in clear language. The book is short enough to be enjoyable and while goes into some depth on a few issues, it is not so filled with unimportant details as to be muddled. Gregory sprinkles the text with brief excerpts of the many interviews he conducted with the Okies.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Soul Deep Portrayal of the Dust Bowl Years
18 Aug 2011
Format:Paperback
I'll admit that I didn't know a lot about the Dust Bowl before reading the historical romance novel, The Happy Immortals, that was set back then and also in 1949. Since falling in love with that book, I've become a voracious reader of anything I can get my hands on relating to the Dust Bowl, the Panhandle, etc.
American Exodus is one of those powerful books that takes you back in time to those years when weather and the storms overshadowed everything throughout the Great Plains.
James Gregory has done a masterful job in not only painting a vivid, unforgettable portrayal of the "dusters," but also in showing the impact of the great exodus to California.
What happened during the 1930s is a very important part of our country's history, and the more we understand about the bittersweet blend of hope, despair, and courage that came from the experiences of those years--all is vital to discovering what led to the 1940s and beyond.
American Exodus is one of those powerful books that takes you back in time to those years when weather and the storms overshadowed everything throughout the Great Plains.
James Gregory has done a masterful job in not only painting a vivid, unforgettable portrayal of the "dusters," but also in showing the impact of the great exodus to California.
What happened during the 1930s is a very important part of our country's history, and the more we understand about the bittersweet blend of hope, despair, and courage that came from the experiences of those years--all is vital to discovering what led to the 1940s and beyond.
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