I honestly believe if anyone wants an acurate depection of what life will be like after the collapse they should look no further than the Argentine collapse of 2001. A man by the name of FerFal has posted numerous observations from living day to day in the 3rd world.
His views on the inportance of handguns and personal protection are the best I've ever read. This is not from speculation or from some far away battlefield but what he has to deal with every day.
http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/cgi-b...1;t=044387;p=0
http://www.ferfal.blogspot.com/