World Made by Hand
James Howard Kunstler, 2008.
This stimulating book is in the fine tradition of the late 19th century radical tracts like Bellamy’s Looking Backward. As such the characterization is – with two notable exceptions – patchy and the plot contrived to give us the most information and stimulating ideas per page. In other words, a literary review would be out of place, and the plot itself is secondary.
As you’d expect from Jim Kunstler there are humorous interchanges and sharp observations, and there is a strong and simple plot. But what makes a far greater impact is the way Kunstler inserts us into the minds of the main characters, so we begin to see the changing world through the eyes of the narrator and others. This world is rural upstate New York in the 2020s. The US and state governments have ceased to be effective, encephalitis and flu epidemics have decimated the population and fuel oil disappeared a decade before the novel opens. Many men are infertile, possibly due to “the bomb.” Those of us familiar with Kunstler’s writing about peak oil will not be disappointed at the depth of the transformation he depicts – vividly.
There are no consumer goods in 2025 and people make do with items traded by horse and cart or by boat. These goods are largely scavenged or leftovers from today’s salad shooter age. Buildings have been plundered and garbage dumps are being mined. Also missing are antibiotics and anaesthetics and the story reminds us that, whatever our view of civilization and modernity, anaesthetic dentistry is an unalloyed plus of the present day. By focusing on anaesthetic dentistry, Kunstler does not need to mention general surgery or pharmaceuticals; throughout the book he uses an unexpected example of the changes people face and the reader easily fills in the blanks with what, in retrospect, might have been more likely examples.
The narrator, who was once an IT salesman, has come to see the natural world in a far more engaged way: he sees not a fish, but a trout (of a particular age and as a particular dish); not a bird, but an osprey; not a stream, but ripples and flows that have meaning. As people’s engagement with nature has not just increased, but also been transformed, so too their moral code is adjusting to the new times: people remember the old mores but, unconsciously, necessity and convenience are forging a new pragmatic moral code. Social fundamentals are changing in 2025 – this is not a static world.
In Kunstler’s small town, the unnoticed unraveling of community spirit is reversed by the arrival of a whacko Christian group who bring both security and rejuvenation. Others Christian evangelicals are in the background and they dominated the airwaves before the power failures put an end to radio transmissions.
It’s far from bucolic bliss in Union Grove; many cannot adjust to the new necessities and mental instability pops up in individuals. But more insidiously, gangs of various sorts play a large – but not quite dominant role. Hostage and ransom rackets are a feature of urban life. Vigilance, courage, trusted neighbours and the willingness of individuals to meet force with force themselves, are needed when there are no police, courts or jails and a shortage of ammunition has ruled out many firearms.
The drug trade has fallen away as imports and the raw materials for methedrine fade away. Marijuana grows prolifically in the wild and home made beer and wine is widely used. Opium is cultivated for its use as an anaesthetic and those inclined to addictive behaviour have been weeded out by natural selection.
Infrastructure that relies on fuel or electricity is no longer operating. Even a town’s gravity fed water supply fails when maintenance is no longer possible, cement is scarce and skills were lost in the pandemics. Rivers are becoming the thoroughfares as the pot-holed roads deteriorate.
Rumours mix with truth. The news is spasmodic and unreliable so that even major national and international events become known only months after they have occurred, through a process of Chinese whispers “Who really knows any more?” the narrator asks. The insertion of a little science-fiction episode emphasizes peoples’ acceptance of this new uncertainty.
The US dollar is worth between 1% and 10% of its 2008 value, so gold, silver and bartering are also used for transactions, but the real change is that there are far fewer transactions anyway, so money appears to be less important in Kunstler’s 2025 than it is today. All food is local and people produce or forage most of their own. If Kunstler is right, most of the “survivalists” today with their “stocking up” are locked into 2008 thinking in a thing-centric way when more complex, subtle and long-term preparation is required: real physical health, having the qualities that make one welcome as a community member, the ability to take and hold a leadership role, genuine kindness under stress, craft and music-making skills, stoicism and practical knowledge of the natural world are what will serve people and communities far better in 2025 than guns and ammo.
This post-peak oil world is also afflicted by climate change, but this is not Kunstler’s forte and it shows, not only in the way that he drops it into the plot when he remembers, but also by the limited range of manifestations of climate change that he mentions. So, as you read through World Made by Hand, you have to insert your own climate change phenomena as you go. Union Grove in 2025 may not be as comfortable as Jim Kunstler imagines.
Jim Kunstler does not suggest the world he depicts is other than a collection of phenomena that may or may not occur in different combinations in different communities. Nor is he suggesting that his 2025 is stable. On the contrary, the pace of change is greater than that we experience today, but the changes are local and individual – the national and global levels are no longer relevant. Some parts of World Made by Hand are incredible (some deliberately so), others relevant only to the USA, but it is a testament to Kunstler’s craft that he has given even the most thoughtful doomers new things to think about and new ways to think about them.
Keith Thomas
Canberra
www.evfit.com
