The World Made by Hand Series of Novels
Paperback, Hardcover, Kindle, Audiobook – January 1, 2009
In The Long Emergency celebrated social commentator James Howard Kunstler explored how the terminal decline of oil production, combined with climate change, had the potential to put industrial civilization out of business. In World Made by Hand, an astonishing work of speculative fiction, Kunstler brings to life what America might be, a few decades hence, after these catastrophes converge. For the townspeople of Union Grove, New York, the future is nothing like they thought it would be. Transportation is slow and dangerous, so food is grown locally at great expense of time and energy, and the outside world is largely unknown. There may be a president, and he may be in Minneapolis now, but people aren’t sure. Their challenges play out in a dazzling, fully realized world of abandoned highways and empty houses, horses working the fields and rivers, no longer polluted, and replenished with fish. With the cost of oil skyrocketing—and with it the price of food—Kunstler’s extraordinary book, full of love and loss, violence and power, sex and drugs, depression and desperation, but also plenty of hope, is more relevant than ever.
Autographed copies of all four books available from Battenkill Books, Cambridge, New York
The second novel of the series: a boy from Union Grove runs away into a dangerous new world and leaves his childhood behind.
Third in the series. A young man ventures into the interior of the old United States to find what is left there.
Fourth and last of the series: The town of Union Grove is invaded by grifters from Massachusetts.
I really enjoyed this series back when it came out, and, if memory doesn’t double fault, I listened to all four books on audio and the narration was very good.
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, it won’t surprise you when I say that the writing is excellent. However, because these books are works of fiction, the more important thing is that the storytelling is engaging and the worldbuilding is filled with many details about this near-future, post-collapse “America” that makes it very easy for readers to feel they are entering a lived-in space.
One of the results of this is not only do you gain insight into what this world would look like (and what you might want to do now to prepare for it), but it offers a mirror to reflect on the world we live in now. Some of the strange experiences you might have are finding yourself sort of wishing you could live in this world, despite all of its many challenges.
Last, but not least, the characters are treated with humanity, meaning we get nuanced perspectives on them which makes this more real and interesting than the normal, "dystopian" tales in which everyone seems to turn into caricatures of Good or Evil (leave that stuff to the cartoons!).
I was inspired to find this post because, in a blog post I just published, I’d referenced this series as having scenes that help readers feel gratitude for the things we take for granted, such as a nice cup of coffee. It made me think about how I sometimes take for granted all of these great books I’ve read, so as a kind of pennace, I decided to come here and give the A World Made By Hand series a hearty thumbs-up!
Loved the first 3 looking forward to book 4