I'm fatigued by the prominence of post-apocalyptic fiction nowadays; that said, it's fascinating to read a seminal book in the genre, especially as a native Floridian.

While I can't claim to agree with Frank's optimistic view of what a post-nuclear American town would be, I thought this book painted a fascinating picture of life in a small Floridian town adapting to life after a nuclear attack. Frank's optimism is what, in my opinion, sets this book apart from most other post-apocalyptic novels. And who knows? Perhaps we would all adapt more than we think. I for one enjoy reading Frank's account than the horribly depressing post-apocalyptic novel Earth Abides.

Alas, Babylon reminds me a lot of Nevil Shute’s On the Beach, this fact has as much to do with my reading both books relatively close together as it does with the novels’ similarities. The books are comparable though, both were written in the 1950’s and both deal with the aftermath of a global nuclear war, focusing on a group of survivors trying to live as best they can in the post war fallout (pun intended, no, I’m not sorry and I’d do it again too).

However, these books are very interesting when read comparatively for the crucial differences they evince.

Pat Frank’s novel revolves largely around plucky, prepared, intelligent individuals coping with the crisis of nuclear war and being cut off from the rest of the country. The main character, Randy, has a brother in the air force who warns him of the coming Armageddon. Randy immediately leaps into action, buying supplies and stocking up before the bombs even fall. Afterwards as things fall apart, he steps up as the unofficial leader of a band of survivors in Fort Repose Florida, making the tough calls that need to be made and ultimately shepherding his people through the worst of the disaster. While the nuclear annihilation in the novel is no joke, something like 70% of the country is bombed and made uninhabitable, the overall tone is somewhat positive, at least in my reading. Yes, America suffered a terrible attack, but the government is mostly intact, the U.S. managed to bomb the enemy even worse, and our survivors adapt so well that by the end of the story they refuse the offer of an airlift out of town. The chapter detailing the devastation of the war seems more like a footnote and less like the point of the novel. The point of the novel is that clever, hardworking Americans can survive anything, even nuclear war by golly.
Contrastingly, On the Beach has no such hopeful reading, it’s a major downer from beginning to end. To begin with, the nuclear war in Shutes’ novel is far more mysterious and pointless (as if nuclear war could ever have a point) than the attack in Alas, Babylon. In this novel full scale war comes about due to a misunderstanding, human error, and no matter who got the most bombs off in the end, the whole world loses. Indeed, the Australians in Shutes novel had nothing at all to do with the war, and yet they’re going to pay the price like every other country on earth as the radioactive fallout inevitably makes its way towards their island continent. It hardly matters how resourceful or intelligent the survivors are, there is simply nothing they can do in the face of such a devastating and global catastrophe.

I found Shute’s point both far more persuasive and more closely aligned to reality. If a nuclear war were to break out there’s precious little people could do to protect themselves, let alone survive or thrive like Randy’s band of survivors in Florida. On the Beach reads like a scathing and thoughtful indictment of the very existence of nuclear weapons. Alas, Babylon, for all that it’s a well written action story, reads like fanfiction a character from GI Joe would write.

What a fascinating read. I kept confusing what cities existed in reality versus the fictional post-apocalyptic world because it drew me in so much! Although racism is rampant, feminism is unheard of, and modern technologies like the Internet, cell phones, iPods, iPads, Facebook and Twitter don't exist yet (which completely changed how we communicate and are entertained), this novel vividly depicted to me how much we rely on technology without meaning to. But it would be the same if such a horror happened today. I loved the social implications of such a scenario and the cleverness in the "battle" to survive. Family, hope, and "what would you do?" were recurring themes that kept popping into my head throughout. Timeless and worth the read.

This book was based on the premise that haunted all of us kids of the 1970s and 1980s - what if Russia decided to nuke the United States? I remember watching the film "The Day After" in my dorm room in 1983 and being freaked out. There were signs in my hometown pointing to where the fallout shelters were.

I've read a few books based on this trope written in this time period (1950s - 60s) in the midst of the Cold War, my favorite of which was probably On the Beach. Alas, Babylon is set in the small Florida town of Fort Repose and is centered on main character Randy Bragg who has to organize his family and fellow townspeople after a nuclear attack which leveled all major cities and military bases in the country. The issues dealt with are predictable: loss of electricity, fear of radiation, and shortages of essentials such as food, gasoline, and clean water. Paper currency becomes worthless. Bartering is the name of the game.

The book's title is the key phrase Randy and his older brother Mark, an Air Force colonel in the SAC, had between them to signal the early warning of a nuclear war. Because of Mark's inside military information about the impending attack he was able to get his wife and children safely from Omaha to Randy's Florida home and give Randy time to stock up on essential goods. Despite the warning, Randy didn't get all the right staples before there was a run on stores and shortages, and it didn't take long before he and Mark's family ran out of food and water. Add in to the mix lawlessness and disease and you have yourself a crisis.

I thought the writing was good and characters interesting. The racism in Jim Crow Florida was irritating, maybe more so because I just finished Gone With the Wind and I just got through 1,000 pages of it. I mean, this took place 100 years after Gone With the Wind and we are still dealing some of the same issues?! I guess we probably were. And the 1950s gender roles....ugh.

There were times in the book where I didn't understand the motivations of the characters, the best example of which was in the climactic scene near the end of the book. I won't give spoilers but the main character decided to expend some of the town's irreplaceable resources on one risky operation rather than conserve and ration.

Overall, I liked this book. It was probably one of the best examples of its genre when it was written in 1959. I'm sure I'll read more like it.

PS. The audio book was expertly narrated by Will Patton. He did did a fantastic job on and was the perfect narrator for another book I recently listened to: Train Dreams. His voice is perfect for books set in the Southern United States.

For being a post-apocalyptic story, it was expectingly scary. I really enjoyed reading this...having grown up when I have, I wasn't raised on nuclear war-related warnings and fallout stories. Still, its scary to imagine and makes me wonder who could survive if presented with these circumstances.

A re-read of an old favorite, but the first time I'd listened to the audio version. I'd forgotten some of the details of the story after having watched popular TV shows along similar themes in the intervening years, like Jericho and Revolution, so I was glad to go back and refresh my memory.

I enjoyed it as much this time as I did the first time reading it.

My aunt bugged me for a long time to read this book, because it's about all that great apocalyptic, last-man-standing kind of stuff that fascinates me and led an old boyfriend to think I was a terrible person because I thought it would be interesting if 99% of the population died from a virus a la The Stand and left the rest of us to fend for ourselves. So sue me, I'm a biologist.

But anyway, this is an intriguing, 50s-era take on what would happen in the wake of nuclear war; the story of a small town in Florida miraculously shielded from fallout, and how it copes with its isolation, finding sustenance, and trying to connect with other survivors. Probably not much useful instruction in the event that people push Pakistan to its limit or Kim Jong Il finally loses his last nugget of sanity, but a fun read nonetheless.

I'm just leaning into the apocalypse at this point. This book is extremely woke for its time and even though it still was glaringly obvious that this was written in 1959, I was pleasantly surprised about the feminist (well not really feminist but maybe less anti-woman than most literature from this time tended to be) and anti-racist undertones. Also, it's really sad that a lot of the problems in this book are still problems we face today, in 2020. Florida is the perfect place for the apocalypse.

Loved this book!