BOOKS: The Witch Of Hebron And The Myth Of Post-Peak Uniformity (Carolyn Baker)

[Tace]

Oct. 13, 2010 (CarolynBaker.net) -- I am an avid fan of James Howard Kunstler's work. Whether I read his non-fiction The Long Emergency of 2005 or his recent novels A World Made By Hand and The Witch of Hebron, I remain in awe of his capacity for discerning a world eviscerated by unprecedented energy depletion and economic cataclysm.

Kunstler's non-fiction research on the likely consequences of peak oil is superbly documented and therefore, exceedingly plausible. His fictional pieces are as astonishingly engaging as they are deeply disturbing.

His most recent masterpiece is The Witch of Hebron which, like his 2007 novel A World Made By Hand, is set in upstate New York where Kunstler has spent most of his life and paints a bleak but beautiful and strangely riveting picture of life in a small community, Union Grove, after the collapse of industrial civilization. Remarkable indeed is the resourcefulness of a population that has been traumatized by cataclysmic events, some of which have occurred over time, others which erupted suddenly.

Having researched, as Kunstler has, the likelihood of industrial civilization's demise, I find the fictional world depicted in his novels highly plausible and not the least bit exaggerated. He has masterfully created a mood that is eerily beautiful and beautifully eerie. Yet one cannot help but marvel at the serene contentment of most of Union Grove's residents even as they are surrounded by a milieu of unremitting death and dissolution.

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[amerikat]

1. I agree with Ms. Baker. There are many female business owners

here in Union Grove. They would be as active as the men in
a post oil scenario.

I enjoyed both books in the "World Made by Hand" series.
I've heard there will be four books penned, one for each season
of the year.

I live in the town where this novel takes place. Although
it is fiction it is based on Greenwich, NY (formerly Union
Village).

I take exception with the story in some ways also. I don't
think JHK took all the resources available here into consideration.
So I think things would be different than what the author envisions.