Acclaimed documentary maker Ken Burns chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, in which the wheat boom of the ‘great plow-up’, followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s, turned parts of eight plains states into a wasteland, and nearly destroyed America’s breadbasket.
Featuring compelling interviews with twenty-six survivors of those terrible times, dramatic photographs and seldom seen film footage, The Dust Bowl (Monday 6th to Thursday 9th, 7.30pm) brings to life stories of incredible human suffering and equally incredible human perseverance. Less than a century since America’s heartland bore witness to barely-imaginable destruction, this powerful documentary highlights our relationship to the land that sustains us, and begs the question: could the same disaster occur all over again?
