Alas Babylon
by Pat Frank · first published 1959
75% recommend21% neutral4% critical
Why HN recommends it
Realistic post-apocalyptic novel about a family and neighbors surviving a limited nuclear war, focused on food and how a community forms. Suits readers wanting Cold War fear without sensationalism.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A story of a group of people who rely on their own courage and ingenuity to survive in a town which escaped nuclear bombing.
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Mentions per year
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Alas, Babylon has a good bit about that. One of the characters is stationed at strategic air command in Nebraska. He warns his brother about an impending nuclear war, and that is the last that is heard from him. The…
on “Why a Post-Nuclear World Would Look Nothing Like “Mad Max”” ↗…was clever writing, and the audiobook read by the author was surprisingly good. - "One Second After" by William R. Forstchen. Post-apocalyptic novel about the effects of an EMP attack on the USA. - "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank. Another post-apocalyptics novel, about conventional nuclear attack on many sites in the USA. - "Cibola Burn" by James S. A. Corey. Part of the Expanse Series that has been made into…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗Haven't read it, but I have read Alas, Babylon. Sounds similar but definitely worth checking out. One book I was thinking of in my post is The Postman by David Brin. In it, the post-apocalypse was triggered by a cascading series of disasters, including…
on “The vision of nuclear holocaust in Threads (1984) remains visceral and urgent” ↗…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bardeen The Making of the Atomic Bomb - Richard Rhodes; If you have not read this book, read it, just for the summary of discoveries that lead to the atomic bomb. Alas, Babylon - Pat Frank The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage - Anthony Brandt The Worst Journey in the World - Apsley Cherry-Garrard The Last Viking: The Life of…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?” ↗…There's a pervasive sadness to the book which I enjoy. It's the fourth book in a quadriligoy but the first four are neither required nor are they as good as the final installment. I'll also throw out Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. It's a great read and depicts another scenario where shit has gone down and perhaps you're left with one book. The book talks about the tragedy of what would happen after the fall of civilization…
on “Ask HN: Which book would you pick to re-read for the rest of your life?” ↗I've always liked Alas Babylon by Pat Frank. They focus on food, and it really captures the terror the people were feeling and how a community might end up forming.
on “Why a Post-Nuclear World Would Look Nothing Like “Mad Max”” ↗His Dark Materials trilogy? Definitely yes. Bump it to six and add Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon.
on “Story time: the five children’s books every adult should read” ↗…disappear leaving the current world infrastructure still in place, how you could go about restarting civilization. Its more a manual than a story, but I enjoyed learning how so many different things work. -Alas Babylon Pat Frank - A story about a family and some friends and how they survive in Florida after a nuclear attack on the US.
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023” ↗…But the nukes were always in the background and when you review the media of the period it was like seeing the same guy in the background of different movies, always looking at the camera. I had read Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, really the prototype of this kind of thing, about a limited nuclear event and what would happen. There's a great bit: On the ninth day after The Day, Lavinia McGovern died. This, too,…
on “Threads: The BBC drama which affected a generation of viewers” ↗Another fantastic book in this genre is "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank.
on “Threads: The BBC drama which affected a generation of viewers” ↗Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank is another great book in a similar vein.
on “A low-carbon computing platform from your retired phones” ↗…be a huge currency. Always have been in one form or the other. Of course most people in cities would be hosed after the canned food ran out, unless there was a severe population drop. Read the book "Alas Babylon," it is a good fiction about nuclear war.
on “Without Power, Puerto Rico Is Cash Only” ↗You forgot Lost Horizon. Or maybe even some of the "end of the world" books (eg. Alas Babylon where they create a more simple world.) But both those books are severely flawed if trying to think about real possibilities, though I enjoyed both of them.
on “Ask HN: Which books do you think created the best Perfect/Utopia worlds?” ↗All of the enders game series including the shadow of ender books are great. I'd also recommend the lensemen series by e.e. doc smith. Lord of the Rings Alas Babylon
on “Ask HN: Good Sci-Fi/Geek-Lit For School-Age Kids?” ↗…growing up in the 70's and early 80's. If you want to get a good feel for the grinding fear that the possibility of nuclear war instilled in people, just watch the movie "Testament" or read the book "Alas, Babylon" and you'll get a good idea of what that fear was based upon. As another poster indicated, there was nothing "binary" about nuclear war unless you were lucky and were within the blast radius and it killed…
on “Why We're Living in the Age of Fear” ↗