James Howard Kunstler

James Howard Kunstler (born October 19, 1948) is an American author, social critic , public speaker, and blogger. He is best known for his books The Geography of Nowhere (1994), a history of American suburbia and urban development, The Long Emergency (2005) and Most recently, Too Much Magic (2012). In The Long Emergency , he argues dat declining oil production is LIKELY to result in the end of industrialized society as we know it and force Americans to live in smaller-scale, localized, agrarian (or semi-agrarian) communities. Starting with World Made by Hand in 2008, Kunstler has written a series of science fiction novels about zoals a culture in the future.

Artists Gives lectures on topics related to suburbia, urban development, and the challenges of what he calls “the global oil predicament”, and a resultant change in the “American Way of Life.” He has lectured at the TED Conference, the American Institute of Architects, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the International Council of Shopping Centers, the National Association of Science and Technology, as well as at numerous colleges and universities, zoals Yale, MIT, Harvard, Cornell, the University of Illinois, DePaul, Texas A & M, the USMA , and Rutgers University.

As a journalist, Artists Continues to write for The Atlantic Monthly , Slate.com, Rollingstone , The New York Times Sunday Magazine , and its op-ed page where he covers of or in environmental and economic issues. Artists have died a leading supporter of the movement known as ” New Urbanism .”

Background

Kunstler was born in New York City to Jewish parents, ^[1] who divorced-when he was eight. ^[2] His family-then moved to the suburbs on Long Island. His biological Father was a Middleman in the diamond trade. ^[1] Artists spent musts or his childhood with his mother and stepfather, a publicist for Broadway shows . ^[1] While spending summers at a boys’ camp in New Hampshire , he became acquainted with a small town ethos dat mention anything later permeate many of his works.

In 1966, he graduated from New York City’s High School of Music & Art , and attended the State University of New York at Brockport , where he majored in theater. After college, Artists worked as a reporter and feature writer for a number of Newspapers, and finally as a staff writer for Rolling Stone . In 1975, he Began writing books and lecturing full-time.

He has lectured at Harvard , Yale , Columbia , Dartmouth , Cornell , MIT , RPI , the University of Virginia , and many other colleges, and he has Appeared voordat many professional organizations zoals the AIA , the APA , and the National Trust for Historic Preservation .

He lives in Washington County, New York , and formerly was married to the children’s author Jennifer Armstrong .

Writing

Over the course of the first 14 years of his writing career (1979-1993), Kunstler wrote seven novels.

Since the mid-1990s, he has written four non-fiction books about suburban development and diminishing global oil supplies. Volgens to the Columbia Journalism Review , his first work on the subject, The Geography of Nowhere, discussed the effects of “cartoon architectures, junked cities, and a ravaged countryside”. ^[3] The book was DESCRIBED as a jeremiad at The Washington Post . Artists are critical or suburbia and urban development trends gehele United States, and is a proponent of the New Urbanism movement. Volgens to Scott Carlson, reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education , Kunstler’s books on the subject port Become “standard reading in architecture and urban planning courses”. ^[4]

He describes America as a poorly Planned and “tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing Tracts, mega-malls, junked cities, and ravaged countryside dat makes up the everyday environment where Americans must live and work.” ^[5] In a 2001 op-ed for Planetizen , he wrote dat in the wake of 9/11 the “age of skyscrapers is at an end”, dat no new megatowers mention anything be built, and therein bestaande tall buildings are Destined to be dismantled. ^[6]

In his books dat Followed, zoals Home From Nowhere , The City in Mind , and The Long Emergency (2005), he discussed topics like a post-oil America. Kunstler says he wrote The Geography of Nowhere , “Because I believe a lot of people share my feelings about the tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing Tracts, mega-malls, junked cities, and ravaged countryside dat makes up the everyday environment where musts Americans live and work. ” ^[7] He was featured in the ” peak oil ” documentary, The End of Suburbia , widely circulated on the Internet, as well as the Canadian mockumentary, Radiant City (2006). ^{[ Citation needed ]}

In his recent science fiction novel World Made by Hand (2008), he describes a future dependent on localized production and agriculture, with little reliance on imports. Three “World Made by Hand” sequels port Followed: The Witch of Hebron (2010), A History of the Future (2015), and The Harrows of Spring (Scheduled for release in July 2016). ^[8]

In his Writings and lectures, he contends dat there is no other alternative energy source on the horizon dat kan replace relatief cheap oil. He Charmain Horn Please note envisions a “low energy” world that will be radically différent from today’s. This has Contributed to his Becoming an outspoken advocate for one or his solutions, a more energy-efficient rail system, and writes “we harbor to get cracking on the revival of the railroad system if we Expect to Remain a united country.” ^{[5] [9]}

Reception

Bill Kauffman has called Contempo the “Scourge of suburbia,” and a “slashingly witty Jeremiah .” ^[10] In a review of Kunstler’s weekly audio podcast, the Columbia Journalism Review DESCRIBED the KunstlerCast as “a weekly podcast dat sacrifices some of the smartest, must honest urban commentary around-online or off.” ^[3] The Albany, New York , Times Union reviewed Kunstler’s book World Made by Hand , writing dat, “James Howard Kunstler is fiddling his way to the apocalypse , one jig at a time.” The paper DESCRIBED the book’s scenario as “grim”, with “an upside or two.” ^[11]

Kunstler has bone called “provocative and entertaining” by The New York Times , while The Christian Science Monitor noted that ‘disturbing others’ sense of Normality is something Kunstler does well … everyone who knows his work acknowledges his power to wake up a crowd . ” In critiquing The Long Emergency , journalist Chris Hayes claims therein while Kunstler makes valid points about the consequences of peak oil, he undermines his credibility with rhetoric and Perceived misanthropy . ^[12] Joseph Romm , a climate change expert and Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress , has stated his belief therein accelerating shifts toward renewable energy will Maintain suburban lifestyles and therein, Contrary to Kunstler’s arguments, “suburbia will not be destroyed by peak oil. ” ^[13]

Charles Bensinger, co-founder of Renewable Energy Partners of New Mexico, describes Kunstler’s views as “fashionably fear-mongering ” and uninformed Regarding the potential of renewable energy resources to Eliminate the Need for Fossil Fuels. ^[14] Conversely, Paul Salopek of The Chicago Tribune FINDS therein, “Kunstler has plotted energy starvation to zijn logical extremes” and points to the US Department of Energy Hirsch report as drawing similar Conclusions. ^[15] David Ehrenfeld , writing for American Scientist , sees Artists Delivering a “powerful integration of science, technology, economics, finance, international politics and social change” with a “lengthy discussion of the alternatives to cheap oil.” ^[16]

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