Eileen Russell offers therapists a model for drawing on their clients' innate strengths to get the most out of therapy. Without minimizing pathology, she explains what is meant by resilience in a clinical context, how to work with it, how to cultivate it, and why using it is an effective approach to healing.

The Great Depression of the 1930s came though hometowns like a tornado on the tail of a prairie fire, knocking down everything in its way. The stock market crash in 1929 began it all. At first one didn't notice much difference, but each day a piece of living crumbled and fell off. Like a conquering monster it wiped out mortgages, savings accounts, repossessed automobiles, cancelled insurance policies, closed doors on small businesses, and caused banks to fail. Men were laid off; entire families were put on the road. Yet, people refused to be defeated. They believed things would get better and in the meantime tried to encourage their children to make the most of every opportunity. In her inspiring book, the author shows how the people of a small Oklahoma community sorted the important from the unimportant - her family and the townspeople learned to cope with the insecurity of the Depression. This is no "dust bowl saga." It is an education in survival and preservation.