James Howard Kunstler March 14, 2010

An author, journalist, and urban planning expert, James Howard Kunstler is one of the foremost social critics of our time. The Geography of Nowhere (1993) and Home from Nowhere (1996) established him as a fierce critic of suburban sprawl and the high cost of our automobile-dependant culture.

His bestselling book, The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the 21st Century (2005) addressed the ongoing global oil crisis by exploring the sweeping economic, political and societal changes that will result from the inevitable end of access to cheap fossil fuels. He expanded on his previous criticisms and detailed the impact the crisis will have on the way we live, work, farm and build.

The 2008 publication of his 10th novel, World Made by Hand, placed those ideas and his critique in a provocative fictional setting. Given the wild fluctuations in prices and concerns over the world’s oil supply, World Made by Hand is both timely and portentous. Through the eyes of the citizens and mayor of Union Grove, Kunstler imagines what will happen in Small Town USA when the oil wells dry up, the climate changes, and the economic system collapses. While it is “grim with portent,” the San Francisco Chronicle said, World Made by Hand “is an impassioned and invigorating tale whose ultimate message is one of hope, not despair.”

Kunstler’s earlier novels include Maggie Darling (2004), Thunder Island (1989), The Halloween Ball (1987), An Embarrassment of Riches (1985), and The Life of Byron Janes (1983).

A former staff writer for Rolling Stone, he continues to be a prolific journalist and essayist whose writings have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Orion Magazine, The New York Times Sunday Magazine and on Slate.com.

A native New Yorker, he resides in Saratoga Springs.

Check out Kunstler's blog and his TED talk.

Official Website: http://writersandreaders.cpl.org/kunstler.html