Full disclosure: I think Timothy Egan is a lightweight. I read The Worst Hard Time, Egan's hagiography of those poor salts-of-the-earth who suffered stoically through the Dust Bowl. Before he can do that, however, he has to cast aspersions on those poor dumbass middle Americans who took the government's "40 acres and a mule" invitation to settle the Great American Desert and then, when that clearly became a terrible and ruinous thing to do, left. Egan has a real soft spot for stoic dumbasses who struggle bravely through self-inflicted adversity and zero patience for anyone displaying rational self-interest.
So really, this is a hot take from someone who firmly believes that some people are terrible and noble people have to suffer their bullshit.
- David Frum