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January 03 2019 A review of James Kunstler's 'World Made by Hand' [1] novels I don't read a whole lot of fiction anymore but I was curious about Kunstler's 'World Made by Hand' novels after listening to some of his podcasts [2] and managed to borrow all four from the public library which I read straight through. Kunstler wrote the books between 2008 and 2016 and while one can sort of see how unfolding events since the 2008 economic collapse influenced his writing, the story and general tone stays fairly consistent as it unfolds over the four books. Essentially the story takes place over a one year period sometime in the future, roughly 10 years after the US has collapsed and split into several autonomous regions. The worst of the chaos and violence has past; many people have died from disease and/or starvation and those that remain find themselves living much as the early American settlers did, without electricity, mass-produced goods, nor foodstuffs imported from far away places. Coffee is a rare and special treat. Much of the tract housing has already been salvaged for materials and has been abandoned for locations that are closer to potable water and other essentials. One thing I liked was that each book is a season. The series starts in Summer and we see how people are coping with heat and lack of refrigeration. Fall harvests are celebrated; Winter transitions indoors and centers around the wood stove. Spring brings anticipation but also hunger as Winter stores run low before the first crops are ready. Throughout the year there is a renewed importance placed on the various holidays for their role in bringing people together for shared experience, what people sometimes call "community building". There is also the contrasting of various living arrangements. The residents of Union Grove where the story is based (in upstate New York; not a real town) are still somewhat demoralized; many still wear mass-produced clothing from "the good times" which is getting quite worn out. Many of the men have beards; they've given up shaving possibly due to the unavailability of safety razors. Some of these folks have relevant skills for the new times, carpentry, agricultural or medical training. Those that don't have found themselves employed as serfs in some cases, unskilled farm hands in others. The farmers and other landholders have attained an elevated status; they are providers of livelihood and food for the regions inhabitants. Some, as in the case of Bollock, have become modern feudal lords. A gang of ex-bikers has reinvented itself as it mines an old landfill for items of value. The New Faith Brotherhood, claiming to be followers of Jesus, live communally, aren't squeamish about violence when deemed necessary, brew distilled beverages and practice free love as a way to increase their numbers (many people became sterile due to exposure to dirty bomb radiation leading up to the collapse). I don't wish to ruin the story for anyone wishing to read them. I will say that I enjoyed them very much and found the world depicted as challenging but in many ways richer and more meaningful than the one I'm currently living. While technically dystopian, I discovered much grounded optimism as to what a post oil age life might hold. -- Follow-up: Sam Mitchell of the Collapse Chronicles Youtuibe channel has an hour-long in-person interview with Jame Kunstler [3], much of it centered on the thinking behind the World Made by Hand novels. -- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Made_By_Hand [2] http://kunstler.com/writings/podcast/ [3] https://youtu.be/ARc-vmDpi6U