Elsa makes the tough decision to leave everything—the family farm, her in-laws, life as she knows it—and do what’s best for her children during the throes of the Great Depression: head west to California. There, she hopes to find work and settle down in the land of milk and honey. It’s only when they arrive that reality sets in. They’re seen as filthy migrants only good for working in the fields for next-to-nothing pay, left constantly trying to claw their way out of poverty. 

 

It did not go unnoticed how easy it is to see the parallels of Elsa’s story and the events from ~90 years ago and what is still happening today. Environmental disasters, years of economic hardship, and flailing political solutions aren’t just a thing of the past. This book does a great job of reminding you that sometimes even hard work isn’t enough when you’re stuck in a disastrous cycle. 

 

I can’t say I enjoyed The Four Winds. It was a sad, harrowing look into how the land turned against those who called the Great Plains home and left them desperately choosing between abandoning everything or risking death by dust pneumonia. It did, however, vividly tell the story of hardship, bravery, and comradely of everyday people who are forced to be resilient in times of desperation.