Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank

”Alas, Babylon." Those fateful words heralded the end. When a nuclear holocaust ravages the United States, a thousand years of civilization are stripped away overnight, and tens of millions of people are killed instantly. But for one small town in Florida, miraculously spared, the struggle is just beginning, as men and women of all backgrounds join together to confront the darkness.

There aren’t a lot of post apocalyptic books that can pass the test of time. Earth Abides and On the Beach come to mind. This book can easily join that company. Published in 1959, it shows that while how things got where they are is important, what’s more important is how the people react to the new situation.

It doesn’t seem as if most people are as concerned about nuclear war as they might have been in the 50s, but it’s still a possibility. But the reader can put any disaster in its place. Say, like a pandemic. Whatever the reason, the focus of this book is solidly on the people who have survived, and how they go about continuing to survive.

That’s very much the strength of this book. Ordinary people who step up and do extraordinary things. Like Randolph Bragg, something of a playboy, who finds a strength to lead he didn’t know he had; Alice Cooksey, the town librarian who turns the library, not just into a center of learning, but into the center of town life. And Malachai Henry, who shows a courage few can top. And so many more that the reader comes to love.

This is a book I highly recommend.




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BOOK BINGO 2020 - Read a post-apocalyptic/dystopian novel.