James Kunstler Lecture for the Hampstead Institute

January 30, 2009

The Hampstead Institute Speaker Series presented its second public lecture Thursday, January 29th at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.

James Howard Kunstler, author and critic, addressed an audience with his chilling analysis of the financial crisis and its economic & geo-political implications.

Kunstler's published works include the national best-seller The Long Emergency, World Made By Hand, Geography of Nowhere, Home from Nowhere, and City in Mind.

For the event, Kunstler brought his unique blend of humorous social commentary and cutting critiques about all things sprawl-related to Montgomery during his first visit to the city.

His 2-hour presentation focused on the obvious connections between Peak Oil, the global financial crisis, and suburban sprawl. But, rather than just identify the inter-related problems, Kunstler discussed crucial steps that must be taken to curb these challenges by promoting sustainable, time-honored development practices in the River Region. Those discussed included traditional neighborhood developments (such as Hampstead) and in-fill investment in older neighborhoods such as Downtown and Cloverdale.

Kunstler’s work has been featured on numerous national programs and publications including The Colbert Report, CNN, The New York Times, Metropolis, and NPR. This was the first Montgomery appearance by the nationally-renowned speaker.

A crowd of over 200 hundred gathered Thursday for the lecture, which included a book signing and wine & cheese gathering. Many thanks to the MMFA for use of their elegant facility.

Sponsored by The Hampstead Institute and The City of Montgomery