Book Review: World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler

Leave it to James Howard Kunstler, visionary author of The Long Emergency, to write the first great novel set in a possible Peak Oil future. Expanding on the main themes of his previous book and adapting them for dramatic impact, Kunstler tells a simple story that is simultaneously frightening and yet a bit hopeful. Surprisingly considering that detractors think he is far too pessimistic, World Made by Hand is light and airy compared to say, the utter bleakness of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

The setting is upstate New York, an area that Kunstler is convinced will survive the oil crash a bit better that the rest of the country. His hero is a former software executive turned carpenter eking out a barely more than subsistence living with his fellow townies. The outside world has become unknown to them as their only sources of news are in the form of travelers’ tales and rumors. The status quo of their humdrum lives is shaken up when a new religious sect moves into town and a boatload of local traders goes missing.

Kunstler is a deft writer capable of spinning scenes both moving and dramatic. He also avoids obvious clichés. His religious cult leader turns out to be an okay guy and the inevitable strong arm militia is discovered to be greedily pathetic rather than omnipotent. The one quibble I have about the novel is its small scale. Given the grandiosity of The Long Emergency and its predictions for the future of the world this was a bit surprising. But it in no way detracts from what is an effective and well told story.

Deer Hunting With Jesus

This is another vital read for those who want to know what is REALLY going on in America these days beyond the corporate media spin. Joe Bageant writes eloquently about the plight of working class people in Winchester,VA. This book's implications were stark even before the beginning of the recession. Here is my Amazon.com review:


As a progressive who grew up in exactly the kind of town the author describes, I found "Deer Hunting With Jesus" to be a chilling and dead on accurate account of modern day America. Unless you've had the experience of seeing the house you grew up in only 20 years ago boarded up and sold at a HUD auction, or turned into a crack house as my best friend from high school's house recently was (we were solidly middle class by small town standards), you really can't appreciate what the author is trying to describe.

That said, this is no biased political rant, as the author's staunch defense of gun ownership demonstrates. It is instead a desperate warning to all Americans just how perilously close we are to seeing our way of life destroyed by our own misguided collective actions. The author believes that progressives and the white working class (rednecks as he calls them) ought to be able to find political common ground based upon economic interest. He's also realistic enough to realize that it is unlikely to happen in time to rescue America from the precipice we seemed so determined to fling ourselves over.

Be forewarned, it is depressing as hell and in no way conforms to the Republican OR Democratic narratives of what America needs to do to preserve our way of life. It is the kind of truth-telling book that could only be written by someone who has seen enough of living on both sides of the red-blue divide to truly understand what ails this country.

In all, a perfect antidote to what the author calls the "American Hologram" of our mass media culture.

Bushfellas!

I haven't read this book, but I think I need to add it to my reading list seeing as how it pays homage to my all time favorite movie.

"How the fuck I am I funny? Tell me! What the fuck is so funny about me?"

End of the World Novels: A Top 10

This is a post I first placed on the Life After the Oil Crash website. As I said then, I loves me some end of the world fiction. This list is a personal Top 10 of the best EOTW novels I've run across (with two sentence reviews!). Some are new, some are classics. All are awesome.

1). The Stand - Stephen King (1978, 1990). Superflu decimates America and sets off a classic good vs. evil battle. The 1990 version added more than 500 previously deleted pages to this epic and is worth every word.

2). On the Beach - Nevil Shute (1957). Survivors of World War III await certain death Down Under. The best of the classic nuclear war aftermath novels.

3). The Road - Cormac McCarthy (2006). A man and his son struggle to survive while wandering through an utterly depleted landscape. An EOTW novel even Oprah can love!

4). World War Z - Max Brooks (2006). Zombies fucking rule in Brooks's faux oral history. This one manages the rare feat of being truly funny and truly scary while also including a little social commentary.

5). I Am Legend - Richard Matheson (1954). The original Last Man on Earth battles vampires while holed up in his barricaded home. I damn Will Smith to hell for cinematically trashing this visionary novel.

6). The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham (1951). Killer plants may not seem so scary, but YOU try battling them after everyone you know has been blinded by a mysterious comet. The opening sequence of this sci-fi classic was chillingly reproduced at the beginning of the movie 28 Days Later.

7). Summer of the Apocalypse - James Van Pelt (2006). '06 was a great year for ETOW fiction as this is the third on the list. As I mentioned in my review, this story of the aftermath of a supervirus might be the most moving such story ever told.

8). Earth Abides - George R. Stewart (1949). Starts out as a Last Man Alive story before turning more philosophical and ruminating on the nature of future generations of survivors. Holds up very well even after 60 years.

9). Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (1977). Just your standard comet-hits-earth-and-survivors-battle-it-out action novel, but very well written. My favorite moment is when the surfer dude catches a ride on the tsunami only to get swatted by a skyscraper.

10). The Last Ship - William Brinkley (1988). A nuclear destroyer hunts for a safe harbor in a radioactive world after launching its missiles. This might perhaps be the most realistic story of the lot.

If anyone else has recommendations or thoughts on the books above, I'd love to hear them. Happy reading!