author: Brian Francis Slattery

name: Steev

average rating: 3.65

book published: 2008

rating: 4

read at: 2010/09/30

date added: 2010/09/30

shelves: after-the-fall, fun, novels, own-it

review:
This is a fun book, a page-turner, but also very thought-provoking about the end of the industrial and political United States.



Anyone who is thinking about possible ways things could go after industrial collapse would do well to read this. It doesn't provide a wholly realistic vision, but it provides a lot of little scenarios, different characters and communities that react to the collapse and survive (or don't) in various ways.



The big flaw of the story is the premise that the rest of the world does not collapse. This is highly unlikely, given how the global economy is so tightly coupled together. When the U.S. economy explodes, everyone else will be caught in the blast, unless steps are taken in the coming years before the collapse in which other major economies (the EU, China, etc) start to disconnect from the U.S. But this will be difficult and might even *cause* collapse.



So we have a fundamental lack of realism, but other than that there are lots of compelling little situations that are worth thinking about. Tiny farm collectives, hippy travellers, "free states", the return of slavery, warlords and revolutionaries, etc etc...



The writing is fluid and artful and full of poetic imagery, and the story careens along like an epic superhero comic book. It's fun and it's relevant. who could ask for much more?