[X-Posted from Reddit - /u/codejockblue5] - "World Made by Hand" by James Howard Kunstler

"World Made by Hand" by James Howard Kunstler
https://www.amazon.com/World-Made-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/0802144012/

Book number one of a four book apocalyptic fantasy series. I read the well printed and well bound trade paperback published by Grove Press in 2009 that I bought new on Amazon. I have ordered the second book in the series.

In this alternate reality, oil well fracking was not invented and the world started running out of crude oil in 2008. Then somebody popped off a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles and somebody popped off a nuclear bomb in Washington DC. And the world slowed down and the USA moved back to the 1800s over the next several decades. We were back to times that the flu and encephalitis killed significant portions of the population. This book is set roughly in 2030 or 2040. The book is a page turner with short three to five page chapters.

The town of Union Grove, New York has decayed significantly over time. No cars, either buy a horse or walk where you are going. No electricity and the farms are worked by hand now. The population is maybe 20% of what it was at the turn of the century so there are houses standing empty all over town. All of the older people remember cars, airplanes, antibiotics, and air conditioning but the young people don't.

The author has an active website at
https://kunstler.com/
Warning, the author's website is fairly crude.

My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,098 reviews)