THE DUST BOWL chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, when a frenzied wheat boom on the southern Plains, followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s, nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation.
EPISODE 1
The Great Plow Up
In the first episode of Ken Burns’s The Dust Bowl, feel the full force of the worst manmade environmental disaster in America’s history as survivors recall the terror of the dust storms, the desperation of hungry families and how they managed to find hope even as the earth and heavens seemed to turn against them.
EPISODE 2
Reaping the Whirlwind
In the second episode of Ken Burns’s Dust Bowl, experience the gradual relief as the families of the plains seek new lives in California and government conservation efforts — and a break in the drought in 1939 — eventually stabilize the soil and bring the farms back to life, but with dangers of another Dust Bowl facing future generations.
Ken Burns
