James Howard Kunstler’s World Made by Hand is a four-novel series set in the little town of Union Grove, New York, a few decades hence, after the end of cheap oil and the effects of climate change have put industrial civilization out of business. The books are best read in order.
Autographed copies of all four books are available from Battenkill Books, Cambridge, New York.
1. World Made by Hand
“[A] poignant, provocatively convincing novel.”
— Alan Weisman, author of The World Without Us
In World Made by Hand, an astonishing work of speculative fiction, Kunstler brings to life what America might be, a few decades hence, after the decline of oil and climate change converge. For the townspeople of Union Grove, New York, the future is nothing like they thought it would be: transportation is slow and dangerous, food is grown locally at great expense of time and energy, and the outside world is largely unknown. It is a book full of love and loss, violence and power, but also plenty of hope.
2. The Witch of Hebron
“[A] suspenseful, darkly amusing story with touches of the fantastic in the mode of Washington Irving.”
— Booklist
The second novel of the series. In an America where the electricity has flickered off, the Internet is a distant memory, and the government is little more than a rumor, a boy from Union Grove runs away into a dangerous new world and leaves his childhood behind. Bandits roam the countryside, preying on the weak, and a sinister cult threatens to shatter the town’s fragile stability.
3. A History of the Future
“[A] wily, funny, rip-roaring, and profoundly provocative page-turner.”
— Booklist (starred review)
Third in the series. On a stormy Christmas Eve, Robert Earle’s son Daniel returns to Union Grove from two years of wandering what is left of the United States, with the story of the nation’s breakup into three independent regions and of his journey into the dark heart of the New Foxfire Republic. Meanwhile, the town is stunned by a terrible murder, and magistrate Stephen Bullock is in a hanging mood.
4. The Harrows of Spring
“A slyly folksy, caustically hilarious, unabashedly proselytizing, and affecting finale in a keenly provocative saga.”
— Donna Seaman, Booklist
The fourth and final novel of the series. In the lean early-spring weeks Union Grove calls the “six weeks want,” Daniel Earle sets out to revive the town newspaper and the Hudson River trade route to Albany, while a band of hyper-liberals from Massachusetts calling themselves the Berkshire People’s Republic arrives with an intriguing proposal.
Such an excellent series.
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!