In a television interview by Pierre Berton, Max Braithwaite and James Gray described their lives on the Saskatchewan prairies during the worst years Canada has ever known. The economic Depression of the Thirties was accompanied by natrual disasters on an unmatched scale - drought, dust storms, grasshopper plagues, hail, and killing frost. Janice Patton has compiled a fascinating portrait of times when prairie people huddled around stoves for weeks during winter, slept in parks in summer (if the heat let them sleep at all), washed grit off dishes before meals, and could barely afford bef at 10cents a pound.