Customer Reviews

Alas, Babylon

5 star:		(249)
4 star:		(73)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This story deals with the Soviet nuclear attack on America that fortunately didn't happen. Where "On the Beach" was written from a British/ Australian perspective, this book is based in the American south, perhaps making Pat Frank the Pat Conroy of post-apocalyptic fiction. In 1960, during the height of the Cold War, Randy Bragg, descendant of an old Florida family, gets a heads-up from his career Air Force brother and prepares his family and his town for when "the button gets pushed". Younger readers who didn't live through the Cold War might find this story a bit campy, but as one of the kids taught by teachers to hide under my desk, I'm in no position to scoff. The book's short length (by today's standards) might make you take it for pulp fiction at first glance, but the fact that it's still in print four decades later is a testament to its quality. Rather than just crank this thing out, certain that no one would notice the picky details, Frank did his homework on this story. Even down to the dog tag on the collar of a wild stray German shepherd in one passage--as a one-time resident of Rochester NY the same as that dog, I can testify to the fact that the phone exchange on his tag really did exist back in those days...

Two brothers growing up in Ft. Repose, Florida would often sneak down to the African American congregation to listen to the intense, hell-fire preacher. After every convicting statement he belted to his congregation he would follow them with "Alas, Babylon." Frome then on, Randy a former politician, and Mark a high ranking officer serving in military intelligence would use this phrase as a code. As an intense nuclear threat puts Mark Bragg and his family in trouble Mark sends his family to Ft. Repose, Florida for fear that one of the first targets will be the his intelligence base. Mark sent a telegram prior to the arrival of his family reading, "Urgent you meet me at Base Ops McCoy noon today. Helen and children are flying to Orlando tonight. Alas, Babylon." The story begins to unfold from there as the plot thickens and becomes more detailed and complex. The book is about the unthinkable happening; a nuclear strike and survival after the such a devastating event. A provocative story written by a great author, Pat Frank which is easy to follow and very interesting. His foresight into what could possibly happen is incredible. Even smallest details don't go unattended. Thrilling suspense that will keep the pages turning and your mind thinking. A book for anyone who enjoys an apocolyptic thriller, conspiracy plots, or just a plain old great book.

I like this book, but not for the reasons I expected. First, unlike most post-nuclear books, this is mostly a strict survival story with few nuclear elements. In fact, the characters only encounter radiation in one small subplot. Therefore, the nuclear war is merely a backdrop.

The book tells a survival story where a small town is cut off from the rest of the world (which mostly no longer exists) and must make do with existing skills and resources. The central hero, Randy, is appealing and believable.

The characters are the main reason to like this story. None of the main characters "turn bad" post-apocalypse style, so the tension is mostly generated by sympathizing with these people and their trials. A simple story, but certainly worth reading.

First of all, this is not a Science Fiction Novel. This is a classic Novel written almost 35 years ago at the Cold War. The reason why it is such a good read is because todays generation can get a real good feel as to the mood of the American Culture at that time. Since it takes place mostly in Florida I particular liked it since it was very descriptive of the local area were I live. It's is remarkably realistic, and deals more with the impact of day to day life of the individual rather than try to write a novel on all of mankind. It will make you think, it may make you shudder and many times you will think " I never thought about that".

This novel effectively takes you from the time just before a Nuclear War to its aftermath, and how a group of people in a small town in Florida cope, Tourists and all. Its documentation as to the War itself is chilling and gets to the core. The aspects of survival are well thought out and is definitely a page tuner. This is a recommended book for everyone wanting to learn about those times and for the people my age, (late forties), will bring back memories.

A good companion to this believe it or not is "Lucifers Hammer" by Larry Nivin/Jerry Pournelle, which also deals with catastrophe but deals with many aspects not brought out in this one.

A good, recommend booked, and well worth the small price.

Science Fiction that could have been Science Fact.

This is a novel of a post-nuclear-holocaust world in the United States. At the time it was written (and I first read it), the scenario depicted in it was a real threat. People were building bomb shelters in their back yards. I considered it, but did not because I knew enough to realize that such measures were futile.

The protagonist, Randy Bragg, moves his family to the small Florida town of Fort Repose when he realizes that a nuclear attack is imminent. The book, though, is not primarily about the military aspects, or science, or fighting back. It is about survival of the people after the attack has destroyed the infrastructure of society and anarchy reigns, and how they cope with it. Contrary to the opinion of many, it is not science fiction. It is an attempt to warn people who lived at the time it was written, and such an attack was a real possibility, what problems they would face if and when it occured. The characters are well-drawn, the situations realistic and well-thought-out, and the subject was of immediate interest--in fact, its possibility haunted us all, in those days.

In point of fact, it is the kind of situation that could, even today, follow any major natural disaster or terrorist act which would disrupt the normal functions of government and the operations of public utilities, resulting in anarchy and the "law of the jungle."

When one reads the criticism of today's high school child, that it was a "boring" story, it demonstrates how far we have come since those days of the cuban missile crisis, for example, when I worked fifty miles from home, and worried when I went to work that I might be separated from my family, including my wife and five young children, by a nuclear strike and not see them again. In those days, it was a real possibility, likely to occur at any moment, and we all knew it.

It was not boring. It was a daily, living nightmare.

This book made the same impact on me, when I first read it, as Nevil Shute's book, On the Beach. At the time I read them, I prayed that they did not reflect the future, but thought they might.

It was a time I'm glad we've passed through, and that modern children cannot remember or sympathize with. But a time we should not forget.

This is easily a five-star book, but it clearly does not have the impact today that it had when it was written.

Joseph Pierre, USN (Ret)

The first time I read Alas, Babylon was almost thirty years ago as a high school student. As I reread it this summer, I was prepared to find it badly out-of-date. After all, it was written in a time when nuclear war was believed to be survivable and no one had heard of a nuclear winter. I was surprised to find just how well the story has held up over time. The theme that man will survive, come what may, is one of hope, and hope never loses its appeal in whatever form. However, its chilling warning about technology makes Alas, Babylon just as relevant today in our e-mail, Internet, computerized, digitalized world as when it was first written. And that warning is that the more we depend on technology, the more helpless we become without it.

If you came to this book looking for Mad Max, dont bother. If you want to reinforce your concept that life on Earth will end with the explosion of one nuke, go elsewhere. But if youre interested in how the collapse of society would impact everyday people, this novel is for you.

Pat Frank takes a fairly reasoned look at the affects of a nuclear war on small town America in the early to mid 1960s. To put it in a nutshell, everone in a small Florida town goes stir crazy for a few days after the bombs drop, looks around and sees they may survive if they act normal and build a new society and economy. How they get from point A to point B is the real joy of this book.

The one legitimate flaw with this tome that others have pointed out is it is quite dated, especially when considering race relations. Also, gender issues are dealt with from an angle we would not be used to today. Most (but not all) of the black characters are somewhat ignorant of the larger world. The female characters are emotional and are prepared to collapse into crying fits over the smallest of quandaries. That said, Pat Frank does present these characters sympathetically and allows them to shine. In ways, this quirk enhances the book as the author's take on these matters is largely appropriate to the time frame.

The next major point of criticism is that the book doesnt accurately reflect the truth about nuclear war as there are survivors. When considering this issue, one must remember the time frame of the story. The Soviets didnt have that many nukes in this time period and had very little capability of dropping them on America. If anything, Frank goes beyond what would be likely.

Finally Ive noted lots of the poor ratings given to this book came from people who were forced to read it in grade school. This is certainly understandable. I would be inclined to give low ratings to books stuffed down my throat too! Still, I urge prospective buyers to take these critiques with a grain of salt.

Alas, Babylon is a decent but rather slow-paced tale about the days before and the months after a nuclear war between the US and USSR. Pat Frank's book is good enough for what it is -- a story of survival in the immediate aftermath of nuclear conflict. Frank tells a tale of runs on grocery stores, the end of electric power, the emergence of a barter economy, and the day to day struggle of a world returned in a matter of hours to a pre-industrial state.

Alas, Babylon is *not* a book about the global politics that might lead to nuclear war (the reason for the Soviet attack is poorly-defined at best). Nor is Alas, Babylon a post-apocalypse fantasy set centuries in the future, with the USA nothing but a legend. Alas, Babylon is a warning written for a Cold War population that assumed it would eventually be destroyed in a nuclear attack.

As a warning and survival guide, Frank's book is excellent -- he's obviously thought through the details. The book is unfortunately not strong on character development; in particular, I didn't buy the hero's instant conversion from lazy slacker to motivated leader. However, given that it was written during the height of the Cold War, the book is commendable for its relatively enlightened treatment of blacks and women, and for its recognition that racial and religious differences won't matter after the blast.

Unfortunately, I prefer my post-apocalypse fiction set further in the future, with the atomic holocaust a distant memory (see A Canticle for Leibowitz, The Unforsaken Hiero, and the Horseclans novels). The myths and legends that grow up about the old nations of Earth are more interesting to me than a disaster/survival epic. This is not a slam on Alas, Babylon; it simply indicates that I was looking for something other than what this book has to offer.

If a disaster epic with an apocalyptic feel is what you're looking for, this is a great place to start. If not, this book probably isn't for you.

When I was an impressionable young girl of 14, my then boyfriend insisted I read Alas, Babylon, saying that he felt a nuclear conflict was not only possible, but inevitable. Of course, this was in the late Seventies and the Cold War was still all about 'arming for peace'. Knowing there was a distinct possibility that one day I might have to face a full-on nuclear disaster, I found that Alas, Babylon rang so true to me that it haunted me for years. The only other novel I have read that gave me such a chill was Stephen King's The Stand, a book that I also love - and I'd bet the rent money that Mr. King has also read Alas Babylon; there are too many coincidences for me to believe otherwise.
Alas Babylon tells the tale of a family preparing for, experiencing and then surviving a nuclear war in the mid 1950's. The characters are well-rounded and multi-dimensional; the situations realistic and haunting, and everytime I read it, I'm caught up again in the thrill of fear of hearing that first bomb drop - something I pray I will never have to actually experience. I have moved all over the country and halfway across the world, and my battered old copy of this fantastic novel has come with me. Well, my impressionable years are behind me, but the impact of Alas Babylon's vision of how folks in a small Southern town would react to a nuclear halocaust is still as strong. I read it just the other day and was again struck by it's vivid, disturbing descriptions of not only the horror of watching your world literally blowing up around you, but also the grisly task of how to survive it. Yes, it's military Cold War jargon and it's prickly talk of racism and segregation give it a slightly dated feel; but if the bomb drops tomorrow, and I'm alive, I can only hope my copy of Alas, Babylon survives with me. It may just safe my life...

ALAS, BABYLON - by Pat Frank (1959) In "Alas, Babylon," Pat frank has produced one of the best sketches of the apocalytic, post-nuclear survivalism which dominated the thoughts of many Americans at the time of the book's publication. Due to the age of the book (published 35 years ago) in 1959, the nuclear weaponry, war tactics and scenarios are notably dated but this does not detract from the book in any way. If anything, it enhances the reader's interest through examination of the mindset of the 1950's-1960's in relation to their fears of nuclear war. The novel is set in the small Central Florida town of Fort Response: a trite name, given that the town becomes, in a sense, a post-war fortress responding to the circumstances of the war. The characterization is particularly well done; the citizens of Fort Response are fascinating creatures portrayed in great detail and fashion.Told through the eyes and actions of Randy Bragg, he undergoes a transformation through the course of the novel from the town's respected, but borderline alcholic to the leader who saves the survivors of Fort Response through his sense of responsibility and organizational skills. Frank's device of focusing on the events of the nuclear war only as much as necessary to explain their effect on the citizenry of Fort Response greatly enhances the appeal of the story (unlike, for instance, an author like Tom Clancy). This character-driven approach allows the reader to feel and sympathize realistically and effectively with Randy and the small cadre of survivors. The ending of the novel is particularly clever and probably the most notable feature of the story. As a work of science fiction, it lacks any fictional science which would qualify it as a member of that genre. "Alas, Babylon is more properly in the category of "The Stand" by Stephen King; the two books share more than a few similarities. But it is the characters of "Alas Babylon" that make it a memorable classic and a novel well worth reading.