World Made by Hand

When Earth ran dry of oil, the age of the automobile came to an end; electricity flickered out. With deprivation came desperation-and desperation drove humanity backward to a state of existence few could have imagined. In the tiny hamlet of Union Grove, New York, every day is a struggle. For Mayor Robert Earle, it is a battle to keep the citizens united. As the bonds of civilization are torn apart by war, famine, and violence, there are some who aim to carve out a new society: one in which might makes right-a world of tyranny, subjugation, and death. A world Earle must fight against . . . In his shocking nonfiction work, The Long Emergency, social commentator James Howard Kunstler explored the reality of what would happen if the engines stopped running.