Examines the social impact of drought and depression in Kansas, illustrating how both farm and town families dealt with the deprivation by finding odd jobs, working in government programmes, or depending on federal and private assistance.

The image of Africa in the modern world has come to be shaped by perceptions of the drylands and their problems of poverty, drought, degradation, and famine. Michael Mortimore offers an alternative and revisionist thesis, dismissing on theoretical and empirical grounds the conventional view of runaway desertification, driven by population growth and inappropriate land use. In its place he suggests a more optimistic model of sustainable land use, based on researched case studies from East and West Africa where indigenous technological adaptation has put population growth and market opportunities to advantage. He also proposes a more appropriate set of policy priorities to support dryland peoples in their efforts to sustain land and livelihoods. The result is a remarkably clear synthesis of much of the best work that has emerged over past years.

A remarkable historical document, this diary describes a period before the telephone and indoor plumbing were commonplace in rural homes, a time when farm families in the Plains states were isolated from world events, and radio provided an enormously important link between farmsteads and the world at large. Waiting on the Bounty brings us unusual insights into the agricultural and rural history of the US, detailing the tremendous changes affecting farming families and small towns during the Great Depression.

Dear readers, this book is written about personal experiences and growth in eighty-five years of life. I’ve been putting it on paper for the last thirty to forty years, and that is what you hold in your hand. What this book hopefully will accomplish is to inspire and enlighten. In the process of reading these shared life stories, whether it brings a smile to your face or perhaps a tear in your eye, it is in the same manner that it did to us while living the stories out in real life. The stories also will describe some of the Amish culture and beliefs. Each story is true, even the ones that seem to be unbelievable. The stories are of experiences that have happened from youth to adulthood. The lessons learned here are invaluable to all—young, old, women, or men. Also included in this book are religious beliefs that have changed and developed over the years. Once you have read even one line of this book, or if you read it from cover to cover and found it inspiring, praise God and give him the glory. In the name of Jesus Christ, his bond servant.