A HISTORY OF THE FUTURE

I finished reading Jim Kunstler’s new novel A History of the Future this weekend. I was fortunate enough to get an advance copy from Jim before it is available to the public. It was a doomily enjoyable read. It’s 336 pages long and tells a fascinating story of the future. It’s his third novel in the Made By Hand series. When you run a blog about the various unsustainable economic, social, energy, and resource dynamics in our world it can become quite theoretical and not readily applicable to your every day life. Kunstler is a fantastic writer and he is able to meld the issues we talk about every day on TBP into a personal tale set sometime around 2040 in the small village of Unionville, NY. He essentially documents a week in the lives of those who survived the collapse of our modern civilization. It’s a brutish existence for some, but others thrive in the new environment.

The reasons for the collapse are vague, but they involve a war in the Holy Land (fitting this week) in which the U.S. is drawn into. Evidently nuclear bombs destroy Washington DC and Los Angeles. The supply chain breaks down rapidly. The city dwellers die off rapidly. Only those smart enough to get out into rural areas survive. All levels of government collapse. The country breaks up into pieces, with a southern white republic, a southern black republic, and the remnants of the Federal government centered around the Great Lakes. The story is compelling and believable. It helps you understand the fragility of our existing economic, political and commercial structure. The dialogue below between two of the more successful characters in the novel captures the essence of our future versus the present:

“In the old times, at the airline, I had a lot of employees. But they got good wages, benefits. The corporate structure took care of it all. Now, it’s gotten all personal. There’s no human resources office doing payroll. I’m basically cash poor. I’ve got the house and the furnishings and the operations, and my animals, but that’s all sunk costs, a lot of it paid for when there was still paper money circulating. Now, we don’t have enough hard silver revenue coming in to pay these people properly in the old sense of money wages. They know it, I know it, but it is what it is. They get some coin and most of their food and some goods. Also on the plus side for them, there’s no taxes these days and no mortgage payments, no car payments, no gasoline to pay for day in and day out. I like to think that the benefits balance out for us and them. But it’s a different social structure now, real different, and I imagine over time the lines between us will just grow sharper, and that’s troubling. We couldn’t run our household without help now, with the electric down, no machines, no vacuum cleaner, no washer and dryer. Now everything has to be done by hand. In the old times, we had a housekeeper who came every other day. It was enough. Everything seemed to run itself. Now it seems we need all these….servants. I’m uneasy with it.”

“When things ran on automatic, a lot of people had no jobs and no purpose.” Andrew said. “People need a place and a purpose. We have an obligation to provide that now. It’s probably the best we can do.”

“The way things are going, this won’t be a democracy anymore.” Andrew had to laugh. “Democracy?” he said. “We don’t even have a government as far as I know.”

“Pretty soon, those of us with property that’s been maintained and improved and kept productive will have to go the way of Bullock does – straight up feudal. This thing of ours is going Middle Ages.”

After reading the novel you will come away with an appreciation for self sufficiency, the ability to grow and raise your own food, courage and fortitude in the face of adversity, the importance of personal relationships, the crucial necessity of being close to water sources, the need for hard currency as opposed to fiat, community cooperation, and the character and integrity of people. Only the strong and prepared will survive in the future that is our destiny. Put down the iGadgets. Learn farming skills. Learn to use a gun. Accumulate silver and gold as your resources allow. If possible, relocate to a rural area near water resources. Stop playing their game. Seek out like minded people.

The history of our future will be simpler, harder and for some – more satisfying. For those captured by the delusions of modernity, the end will be swift and brutal.

I enjoyed the book immensely. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants a realistic picture into the not too distant future.