Portrait of James Howard Kunstler

Birthday profile

James Howard Kunstler

James Howard Kunstler, American author and critic

Born
October 19, 1948
Age in 2026
78
Zodiac sign
Libra
Birth year
1948

About James Howard Kunstler

James Howard Kunstler is an American writer, social critic, public speaker, and blogger known for his analysis of urban development, suburbanization, and energy issues. Born in New York City to Jewish parents, he gained prominence through his non-fiction works critiquing American suburban development and predicting societal changes based on resource constraints. His most influential books include The Geography of Nowhere (1993) and Home from Nowhere (1996), a critical examination of American suburbia and urban planning, The Long Emergency (2005) and Too Much Magic (2012), which explore the potential consequences of peak oil and energy depletion on modern civilization and humanity's over-reliance on technology to solve problems. Kunstler's work has become standard reading in architecture and urban planning courses, and he has been a prominent spokesperson for the New Urbanism movement. Over the course of the first 14 years of his writing career (1979–1993), Kunstler wrote seven novels.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when James Howard Kunstler was born

James Howard Kunstler was born in 1948. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1948

  • #1 song"Twelfth Street Rag" – Pee Wee Hunt
  • Top movieHamlet
  • Top TV showTexaco Star Theater (Milton Berle)
  • Best-selling bookThe Naked and the Dead – Norman Mailer

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentCleveland Indians win the World Series
  • Top headlineState of Israel declared
  • Technology milestoneLong-playing vinyl record (LP) introduced
  • Defining fadTelevision sets in homes
  • Notable inventionVelcro
  • World population2.50 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
  • Sports championCleveland Indians (World Series)
  • Also wonBaltimore Bullets (BAA)
  • U.S. population146.6M

1948 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in James Howard Kunstler's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19482026
Gas$0.26$3.45/gal
Average home$8,300$435,000
Average income$5,000$67,500
Minimum wage$0.40$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.40$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population146.6M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.