World Made By Hand

I just read a very interesting novel, "World Made by Hand," by James Howard Kunstler. It is set in upstate New York, a decade or two in the future. The US is eventually unable to maintain supplies of oil, gets embroiled in a end-all war in the Middle East, and suffers nuclear attacks on Washington DC and Los Angeles. The lack of oil shuts down the entire US infrastructure and the economy collapses and political unity dissolves. Everything that requires oil becomes scarce, and people are left to grow their own food and learn again the skills required to make things they used to buy at Walmart.

While the outcome seems extreme, the really interesting part of the novel is how it makes such an outcome seem to be a very logical follow-on on our current dependence on petroleum. While one can argue about how long oil supplies might last, and how conservation measures might prolong things in the face of increased cost of oil, it really does follow that IF oil does become scarce, then a whole host of unpleasant things happen.

The story and characters of the novel are three-dimensional enough that the reader doesn't feel like the book is just a diatribe against modern short-sightedness. It's a good read- not just describing a possible world, but also how the characters react to this radically changed world.