ABSTRACT
The designation of certain changes in an area's weather as "drought" is a social act. Drought is relative to some human standard. By the very nature of drought, a single community is a limited unit for productive research. The Western Region Drought Action Task Force found that the combined effort against the 1977 drought “has reflected intergovernmental cooperation at its best." Through the 1930s, migration was also the traditional American response to drought. As was shown by the events of 1972-73, drought can serve to intensify worldwide dislocations. The study of drought, therefore, should focus on the relations between social and natural reality. Of more than esthetic value would be a review of the culture of drought-prone areas and particularly of the "dust bowl" years on the Great Plains. In general, the available information on community responses to drought has a distinctly rural flavor.
