title: A History of the Future: A World Made By Hand Novel
author:  James Howard Kunstler 
description: <div>Advance Praise for <I>A History of the Future</I>:<BR><BR>Kunstler&#8217;s post-economic-collapse and postdigital World Made by Hand series continues with increasing literary finesse in the third installment. . . . Kunstler, who overtly articulates his postoil vision in his nonfiction revels in this back-to-basics way of life. . . . Kunstler skewers everything from kitsch to greed, prejudice, bloodshed, and brainwashing in this wily, funny, rip-roaring, and profoundly provocative pageturner, leaving no doubt that the prescriptive yet devilishly satiric World Made by Hand series will continue."&#151;<B><I>Booklist</I> (starred review)</B><BR><BR> &#147;The arrival of this latest addition to James Howard Kunstler&#8217;s post-apocalyptic &#147;World Made by Hand&#8221; series reminds me that time is running out for me to get started reading these books . . . After all, the world could collapse any minute&#151;as it does in these novels.&#8221;&#151;<B>The Quivering Pen</B><BR><BR>&#147;After reading the novel you will come away with an appreciation for self-sufficiency . . . I&#8217;d recommend it to anyone who wants a realistic picture into the not too distant future.&#8221;&#151;<B>TheBurningPlatform.com</B><BR><BR>Praise for the <I>World Made by Hand</I> series:<BR><BR>&#147;Far from a typical postapocalyptic novel. It caters neither to a pseudo-morbid nor faddishly slick vision of the future. Though grim with portent, it is ultimately, as Camus&#8217;s novel <I>The Plague</I>, an impassioned and invigorating tale whose ultimate message is one of hope, not despair.&#8221;&#151;<B><I>San Francisco Chronicle</I> on <I>World Made by Hand</I></B><BR><BR>&#147;The verisimilitude of Kunstler&#8217;s world leads me to think the future is Union Grove. Thirty years from now, it will be interesting to see if that little town seems excessively sad, richly luxurious or spot on. But for now, I&#8217;m hedging my bets. Where I Live, one block east of ground zero, I&#8217;ve started keeping a compost bin and am thinking about adding a micro wind generator. Two blocks south, the damaged former Deutsche Bank building comes down floor by floor. To the north, the Freedom Tower has just emerged aboveground and may one day be full of investment bankers. Recently, though, I&#8217;ve started looking at that plot through Kunstler&#8217;s eyes. It gets good sunlight, and it occurs to me it would make a hell of a bean field.&#8221;&#151;<B><I>The New York Times Book Review</I> on <I>World Made by Hand</I></B><BR><BR>&#147;Chronicles the aftereffects of the collapse of our technological society in the near future . . . Kunstler&#8217;s storytelling talents are in evidence here. &#133;Kunstler has punctuated the nightmarish scenario of his novel with . . . poignant moments where hope and despair vie for dominance of the human spirit.&#8221; &#151;<B><I>The Seattle Times</I> on <I>World Made by Hand</I></B><BR><BR>&#147;In many ways [The Witch of Hebron] reminded me of Larry McMurty&#8217;s <I>Lonesome Dove</I>, set in the dystopian world of <I>The Road</I>. . . . By the middle of the book you are immersed in a richly imagined &#145;world made by hand,&#8217; eagerly devouring every page. . . . [Kunstler] has woven his nightmares into a vision or America after a complete economic, political, and cultural collapse.&#8221;&#151;<B><I>New York Journal of Books</I> on <I>The Witch of Hebron</I></B><BR><BR>&#147;Kunstler offers a sharply cautionary tale, conjuring up bizarre characters who would be right at home in the scariest haunted houses. . . . Kunstler excels at writing lyric passages about nature . . . His acute pessimism about the future coexists with his faith in the human instinct to survive and adapt . . . [and] he demonstrates that the human penchant for storytelling is unlikely ever to become extinct so long as a single human being has breath enough to speak and strength enough to write.&#8221;&#151;<B><I>America Magazine</I> on <I>The Witch of Hebron</I></B><BR><BR>"What's after Armageddon? No government, no laws, no infrastructure, no oil, no industry....and sometimes a sense of relief. In James Howard Kunstler's richly imagined World Made by Hand, the bone-weary denizens of Union Grove (with its echo of Our Town's Grover's Corners) cope with everything from mercenary thugs to religious extremists, yet manage to plant a few seeds of human decency that bear fruit."&#151;<B><I> O Magazine</I> on <I>World Made by Hand</I></B><BR><BR>&#147;One pitfall in painting a convincing picture of the future is forgetting all the small ways in which life would differ if big changes swept in. Kunstler avoids it, and his catalog of such finer points is a subtle, continuing pleasure.&#8221;&#151;<B><I>The Boston Globe</I> on <I>World Made by Hand</I></B><BR></div>
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  ![Cover](images/cover.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## World Made by Hand
  
  
    
  
  
  ###
  
  
  _( World Made by Hand - 1 )_
  
  
  
  
  
  ### James Howard Kunstler
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For the townspeople of Union Grove, New York, the future is not what 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. As the heat of summer intensifies, the residents struggle with
  the new way of life in a world of abandoned highways and empty houses, horses
  working the fields and rivers replenished with fish.
  
  
  A captivating, utterly realistic novel, _World Made by Hand_ takes speculative
  fiction beyond the apocalypse and shows what happens when life gets extremely
  local.
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## James Howard Kunstler
  
  
  ## WORLD MADE BY HAND
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  To Sally Eckhoff Fabulous transcender of the mundane With lov