A History of the Future: A World Made By Hand Novel

This is a fun read. I've given it five stars, and it is important that you understand that rating in the context of what the author is trying to do: This is an entertainment, a fable, a cautionary tale, a ripping yarn. It the novel was positioned as high literature, I'd give it a different rating. There are a couple of negatives but on the whole if you care about what life will be like when the fossil fuels are gone: read this and its predecessors in its series.

This is the third book in a series kicked off with World Made By Hand and the Witch of Hebron. In the first novel the power is gone, and the small town of Union Grove, New York, contends with other local communities: A quasi-feudal plantation; an anarchist group of bikers who oversee the dump; and a religious crew on the run (not unlike the early Mormons). The Witch of Hebron is sort of a side-story involving a boy and a woman who provides different kinds of comfort to a variety of seekers.

This novel takes up the main story from World Made By Hand. A heinous murder happens, and the town and its environs must decide how to deal with it. The question is: Does the area still have the legal structures to exact justice and mercy in a civilized fashion? Meanwhile, a young man who at the end of World Made by Hand had lit out for the country to see what had happened elsewhere in the former USA, comes back with tales to tell. As the first novel was about the competition between societal structures in the small, this novel explores the emerging governmental competitions between what remains of the federal government, and some competing new countries in what was the Southern United States.

The novel is packed with appreciation for old ways and contempt for the productions of modern culture, most of which have decayed faster than their older counterparts (for instance, buildings made in the 1850s are intact, while buildings made in the 1960s have slumping roofs).

If you're curious about this, I'd advise starting with the first one, World Made by Hand. But this novel can be read standalone.

My concerns: Kunstler has some strong female characters but they are bundles of stereotypes. Meanwhile, as in the first novel especially, there are some supernatural elements that seem to be just thrown in. I think in part with the use of the supernatural, Kunstler is trying to remind us that this is just a story. That's the charitable view. But, really, I found the behaviors of Brother Jobe to be a stretch. The last thing: Kunstler paints the emerging Southern state in broad strokes: They are hypocritical religious fascists who love country music and car racing, and hate black people, Jews, and homosexuals. There's little subtlety here. But by keeping it simple and cartoonish, there is some great narrative propulsion and efficiency.

This is the third novel in the World Made by Hand series, and IMO, the best. Although I haven't quite finished it, I like it a great deal. Counter to another reviewer here, I didn't find the first book to be the best, although I enjoyed it very much. However, in that book there was at least one really violent, gory scene which did not fit the more elegiac tone of the rest of the book--it was almost as though JHK felt he needed to include such a scene to please the modern, violence-saturated reader. The second book was better, and in this one JHK really hits his stride. While it is true that Earle has a lesser role in this book, Brother Jobe seems quite alive, and seems to have even grown a bit. There is a great plot twist that allows us to find out what's been happening in the rest of the country, or at least east of the Mississippi. This is a really good trilogy that allows us a sneak peak into a possible future should Peak Oil happen in the way some think it may. And JHK is an excellent writer! Hoping for a fourth.......

Perhaps the most disappointing of the saga's installments. It doesn't add much to the story and is less believable than the previous books.

I read the first two books and high expectations of this one. I was sorely disappointed. It seemed like the author just paid lip service. The two main characters didn't even appear until late in the book. The Queen Bee as a cameo almost and the witch as a prostitute. Strange story line as to the travels of the boys. Nope. Should not have wasted my money.

The third book in the series started by World Made By Hand is a bit of a disappointment. What started as a convincing account of a post-industrial world flirted with neo-mysticism in volume two, The Witch of Hebron. By the time we get to A History of the Future, the plot line now extends to a tedious narration of post-collapse regional conflict by a reluctant secret agent who returns home one Christmas season. I didn't find the narration all that interesting.

As dystopian literature goes, the third volume succeeds; the trilogy follows characters from one book to the next, chronicling a year in the life of a small upstate New York community seemingly cut off from the rest of the world. But does Brother Jobe really need mysterious mind-reading properties? Chaos is an interesting enough topic, or so it seems to me. I would have preferred a resolute realism describing how folks survive in a world without cheap and abundant energy and without effective regional or national government. That's what the first volume promised. Volumes two and three got distracted by flirtations with dark magic and larger visions of geopolitics.

Perhaps that is Kunstler's point. The quotidian dramas that define us always cry out from a broader context. When the world around us collapses, we create worlds within to situate ourselves in space and time. If there is to be a fourth volume, and I hope there is, I hope Kunstler focuses more on how individuals come together to form communities. That would be enough for me.

Of the three novels in the series, this is definitely the worst. While the first installment was intriguing and had a somewhat cohesive and credible plot, the third one is a complete let down. There is no plot to talk of and the multiple vignettes that illustrate the lives of various citizens of Union Grove are disconnected, meaningless and don't add anything to the overall story. The least believable part is the story of Daniel Earle's adventures: what are the chances that, of all the people out there, he will be the one to be picked for the momentous task of assassinating Loving Morrow, the leader of the Foxfire state? This whole part of the book is highly unbelievable, especially where it depicts a takeover of the South by Christian fanatics who hate blacks and jews. It reminds me of The Second Civil War (Jo Dante's 1997 movie), only not funny! Another disappointment is the treatment of the characters, most of which lack or have lost depth since the previous books. Brother Jobe, in particular, has almost completely lost his spiritual character and is reduced to little more than a manager who indulges a little too much in drinking. The character of the "queen bee" is also left completely undeveloped whereas, based on hints from the previous novels, one expected her to play a major role in the Brotherhood. Other major characters, like the reverend Loren Holder, almost completely disappear from the story. Overall, I think this sequel is rather disappointing and I hope that Mr. Kunstler decides to leave it at that and end the saga here, before it becomes even less interesting.

Kunstler's "World Made by Hand" is the ongoing tale of a dystopian utopia. The world as we know it has ended, and the cushy 21st century lifestyle has given way to a difficult struggle. If you survived the tumultuous transition, you'll find yourself in a place where nothing is simple or easy any more. Travel takes weeks or months, instead of hours. Need to fix a hole in the roof? Well, you'd better figure out how to hew shingles and conserve your old nails, because you can't go down to the hardware store. If you want a snack you'd better know how to hunt, fish, gather, or garden. Even the legal system has become more difficult. What do you do with a mentally ill person, or someone who steals from the workplace?

Kunstler's novels lay out these struggles, and lay out how common people could survive. Castes exist - those who owned land before, or know farming, carpentry, or even have artistic abilities are higher in the playing field than middle management computer jockeys, who end up performing servile tasks. If you have the mental tenacity, are flexible and willing to learn and work hard, and don't catch a rampant illness, you're likely to land on your feet, and this might be your utopia. If you're dishonest, unwilling to work, can't deal with the new world order, or are just unwell, you'll end up on the dystopian side of this black-and-white world. If you want to get analytical, there's probably a bit of Socialist allegory in there, especially with the New Faith Brotherhood, and the obvious tenet to get all of our eggs out of the big oil basket. But, for the most part, Kunstler's novels fulfill that fantasy we all have of being one of the few people on the planet, and how to deal with it, in an exciting yet down-to-earth manner.

"A History of the Future," the third installment in his ongoing series, answers a lot of the mysterious questions hovering over the first two novels. The prose switches from novel to narrative and back again a few times, so be forewarned - however, the narrative is extremely interesting, and I ended up reading those parts twice. The world becomes a little bit smaller as we learn of the travels of Daniel Earle, the main protagonist's son, who has been away from Union Grove for two years, traveling to see what's left of the world. His experiences are rich and interesting, but show that Kunstler has no love for the South in his portrayal of the Foxfire Republic. We learn that there is still a United States of America, among other Republics sharing North America, and we learn the truth behind the Chinese moon landing rumor. In Union Grove, life goes on, with a mysterious murder and the introduction of an Eliza Doolittle style character. We also discover that people can bring back the Tater Tot!

All in all, this is an enjoyable read, and went by much too quickly, as have all the exciting books in this series. One thing to note is that this series is written from the perspective of men, so, if you are female, you will see a bit of objectification and sexism. However, since women have been treated as second-class citizens through most of history, and the novel deals with society reverting back to a centuries-old system, it's not unexpected. Unintelligent characters in the series are treated somewhat in the same manner; as a woman I find this a bit rankling. Still, I look forward to the fourth installment. Hopefully we won't run out of oil before Mr. Kunstler writes it.

And so we find ourselves once more visiting the quaint, upstate New York town of Union Grove, as the Christmas season gets underway. Since A History of the Future is the third novel in James Howard Kunstler’s A World Made by Hand series, there are no plastic Santas, electric Christmas lights or endless airings of It’s A Wonderful Life on everyone’s TV. No one will be glued to the tube to watch the ball drop on New Year’s Eve, because the other shoe dropped years ago, when we ran out of cheap oil, the world was beset with wars and rumours of wars, and all the comforts and conceits of the cheap-oil era went the way of the dinosaurs.

In this world, there is no TV anymore. No gas, no internet, no jet travel. Welcome to Union Grove, Kunstler’s post-oil, post-iPhone vision of small-town America, in which the world has become a much larger place, the idea of a “global village” left to the dustbin of history. I happened to drive 40 minutes last night from Glens Falls to Greenwich, NY (the town Union Grove is loosely based on), a trip that I would have had to make on foot or horseback if I lived in the world Kunstler has created, and it would have taken days to get there, not 40 minutes. That’s how it will be after The Long Emergency plays out, and with ISIS bearing down on Iraq’s capital city as I write this, I wonder how soon it will be before Kunstler’s fictional War in the Holy Land becomes real history unfolding before our eyes. (I am a faithful follower of Kunstler’s weekly blog Clusterfuck Nation, which more and more seems like the Pre-History of the Future to the world of Union Grove.)

Opening up A History of the Future, I was delighted to visit the town of Union Grove once again. Kunstler deftly weaves together numerous storylines that have been developing over the course of the series, and we learn, finally, the truth about what happened between the world we live in right now and the world Kunstler first revealed in A World Made by Hand and further developed in The Witch of Hebron. All Union Grove’s notable personages are here, from the carpenter and default leader Robert Earle and the truly fascinating religious leader Brother Jobe, to the wealthy, powerful and somewhat scary plantation owner Stephen Bullock (did you hear what Bullock did to them fellers that broke into his place?).

Kunstler’s facility in bringing these very different characters to life is a genuine joy to experience. Booklist’s review of the novel notes Kunstler’s “increasing literary finesse,” and while the author’s extensive exploration of this environment and its inhabitants may play a role in just how smoothly and delightfully this narrative goes down (it’s a true page-turner with many, many pleasures to behold), I have to say I had a similar thought while I was reading the book. I’ve admired Kunstler’s prose both fictional and non for over two decades now, but A History of the Future is a new high-water mark in showing off his gifts for storytelling, structure and character.

And what a story it is. Lots of things happen to lots of people here, not all of them pleasant or cheery, but the core of the narrative is right there in the title; Robert Earle’s son Daniel miraculously reappears after two years lost out there in what’s left of America, and over the course of the novel he lays out his long, harrowing journey; it’s a trek into the heart of Bible Belt darkness, in which Earle the Younger encounters the leader of the Foxfire Republic, in the personage of former country singer turned racist political leader Loving Morrow (perhaps the greatest character name in modern fiction).

Loving Morrow isn’t just a two-dimensional Tea Party satire, though. Kunstler paints her with nuance and complexity, so much so that by the time her story reached its climactic moment, I felt genuine sympathy and perhaps a little pity for her, despite the fact that she is unquestionably a monster of the most vile kind. The relationship that develops between Daniel Earle and the Republic’s Leading Light (Praise her!) is a highlight of the novel, and its ultimate resolution was one of the most compelling moments I’ve found in fiction in years. Just brilliant stuff.

There’s lots of other joys to be found in Union Grove at Christmas. Brother Jobe and his brethren have opened up an actual tavern with food and drink for the townspeople, and I found myself cheering inwardly at how something that would be so mundane in our time seems such a noble accomplishment in the new times Kunstler is documenting.

I don’t know if I’ve used the term “post-apocalyptic idyll” before to describe this series of novels, but that’s the best way I can explain the genre Kunstler has created. In other hands this would be hard-boiled sci-fi with terminators roaming the landscape, but Kunstler’s rumination on our nearly inevitable, tragic and bucolic near-future is so far above such facile ideas.

I recommend this series of novels to anyone interested in current events, the course the world inevitably seems to be sliding toward, or great fiction in general. By now the residents of Union Grove seem as real to me as the people next-door. I love them and care about them and want very badly to know what happens next in Union Grove. Happily, I am informed there will be a fourth novel in the series, so I’ll get to find out. Unhappily, I am going to have to wait a while for Kunstler to write it.

Reads like a lonely late teen’s fantasies while sitting thru a contemporary college freshman us history class. The story is flat stupid, replete with denigrating stereotypes of fly over country. Worse, he even throws in some mysticism, likely to try to cover the wooden discourse. I didn’t need to read his bio to figure out Kuntsler never gets out of the northeast for his lectures. Skip this drivel.

got em all