MSI Press Blog

  In the migrant camps of Depression‑era California, mothers held their families together with a kind of quiet, stubborn genius. The government reports of the time barely mention them, and the photographs—Dorothea Lange’s especially—catch only a fraction of what they carried. But if you look closely, you see the architecture of survival was maternal. They created order in disorder. In camps where dust blew through every seam and nothing stayed put, mothers established routines: morning washing, evening meals, a predictable rhythm that told children, We are still a family, even here. Sociologists later noted that these small rituals stabilized children more effectively than any federal intervention. They built community out of strangers. Women shared food, sewing needles, childcare, and news. They traded recipes that stretched beans into meals and turned bruised fruit into something sweet. They formed informal cooperatives—one woman mended clothes, another watched toddlers, another...

  Sharon Cole's book, Hazel and Olaf , recently reached #25 in the Amazon category, depression history in the US, and #4 among hot new releases in the category, Great Depression. Book Description: They sold the farm, packed up seven children, and chased a promise called California. Based on Hazel’s journal, this true story follows a family that leaves Wisconsin hoping for relief from brutal winters—only to run out of money with hundreds of miles still to go. Stranded and desperate, they enter a world of labor camps, endless fieldwork, hunger, and exhaustion, where families are worked hard, paid little, and treated as disposable. Once respected and secure, they find themselves suddenly labeled vagrants. Pride becomes a liability. Dignity must be defended daily. And survival depends on grit, faith, and refusing to give up—especially for Hazel, who will not allow poverty to erase who she is or break her family apart. This is a raw, gripping true story of endurance, injustice, and a wo...

  Pre-order sales of Kindle ebook available on Amazon . Release date: June 30. Pre-order sales of paperback book available on Barnes & Noble and Amazon . Release date: June 30. Pre-order sales of paperback book available at 25 percent discount available at MSI Press webstore . Release date June 30. Book Description: They sold the farm, packed up seven children, and chased a promise called California. Based on Hazel’s journal, this true story follows a family that leaves Wisconsin hoping for relief from brutal winters—only to run out of money with hundreds of miles still to go. Stranded and desperate, they enter a world of labor camps, endless fieldwork, hunger, and exhaustion, where families are worked hard, paid little, and treated as disposable. Once respected and secure, they find themselves suddenly labeled vagrants. Pride becomes a liability. Dignity must be defended daily. And survival depends on grit, faith, and refusing to give up—especially for Hazel, who will not all...