A DARKLING PLAIN -- 1 The black blizzards roll in -- 2 If it rains -- 3 Okies and Exodusters -- PRELUDE TO DUST -- 4 What holds the earth together -- 5 Sodbusting -- CIMARRON COUNTY, OKLAHOMA -- 6 Frontier in ruins -- 7 When the cattle ate tumbleweeds -- 8 Hard times in the Panhandle -- HASKELL COUNTY, KANSAS -- 9 Unsettled ground -- 10 The wheat farmer and the welfare state -- 11 A sense of place -- A NEW DEAL FOR THE LAND -- 12 Facing up to limits -- 13 Learning from nature -- 14 Make two blades of grass grow -- Epilogue : on a thin edge.