Reading and Film Series
Programs | Evening Tent Programs | Daily Workshops | Reading & Film Series | Dust Bowl Traveling Exhibit
The Kansas-Nebraska Chautauqua sponsors a Reading and Film Series in each host community in the months prior to Chautauqua. The two-book and two-film series is the ideal way to learn more about 1930s history and culture.
Books:
All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
This fictionalized account of Huey Long tells the story of Willie Clark,
a southern politician whose pursuit of power comes at a high price.
Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston
A treasury of African American folklore, including stories, songs, customs,
and superstitions, collected by Hurston in the South.
Films:
Grapes of Wrath (1940) by Darryl F. Zanuck
Based on the novel by John Steinbeck and starring Henry Fonda, The
Grapes of Wrath follows the story of the fictional Joad family as
they journey from drought-stricken Oklahoma to California.
The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936) by Pare Lorentz (documentary sponsored by the US Government Resettlement Administration) (Nebraska only)
Stories from the Dust Bowl (documentary by Smoky Hills Public
Television) (Kansas only)
A documentary examining the Dust Bowl region of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas,
New Mexico, and Colorado. Eyewitnesses recall the “Dirty Thirties”
and experts look to the future to see if the dust bowl could come again.
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