In a world without technology, one small American town… No, wait, that’s the voiceover for the the movie version of this novel.
“World Made by Hand” takes place in a petroleum-free near future without an effective central government. The US president is, or might be, living in Minneapolis and several major cities have been destroyed by nuclear terrorism. We don’t learn much about how this world came about. Instead, we read about people in a small New England town coping with shortages, motorhead salvagers, a baronial planter, and a religious cult.
I really enjoyed reading this, both for the characters and as an extended thought experiment. I only wish Kunstler had kept going instead of chopping the story off with a somewhat deus ex machina ending.