Warday
by Whitley Strieber, James Kunetka · first published 1984
7mentions
3recommended by
4HN commenters
2015–2025first – last mentioned
75% recommend25% critical
Riveting account of a limited nuclear war between the US and the USSR and what came after.
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I truly, really, forcefully recommend reading the novel "Warday" by Witley Strieber and James Kunetka It takes place in the early 90s, several years after an accidentally limited nuclear exchange between the United States and the USSR. The story traces the journey…
on “What you need to know about EMP weapons” ↗…if you're on the other side of the world when the bombs fall, peacefully farming with a stone plow, there's lots of ways those bombs can ruin your day too. There's a great novel from the '80s called Warday (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warday) that explores these themes in more detail. It's set in the aftermath of a "limited" nuclear war -- limited meaning, in the case of the US, that the only targets…
on “Why Hasn’t the World Been Destroyed in a Nuclear War Yet?” ↗…specifically pay attention to both the food and medicine logistics--specifically, what happens when we lack ability to run refrigerators and move around grain. It's a bit cheerful in the end, but a good read. Warday by Strieber and Kunetka takes place 5 years after a "limited" nuclear exchange with the USSR. The premise of the novel is that a pair of researchers are traveling through the US and interviewing folks,…
on “Why a Post-Nuclear World Would Look Nothing Like “Mad Max”” ↗If you want a sour vision of post-apocalyptic America that puts the lie to the prepper dream, I recommend the 1984 novel Warday (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warday). Warday is set five years after a "limited" nuclear war between the US and USSR, in which only one salvo of nukes was fired by each side before their governments…
on “The vision of nuclear holocaust in Threads (1984) remains visceral and urgent” ↗I've read Alas, Babylon and The Postman too, and IMHO Warday is far superior to them both. If you found those books interesting, you will eat it up with a spoon. Amazon has it on Kindle for $3.99: https://www.amazon.com/Warday-Whitley-Strieber-ebook/dp/B00X...
on “The vision of nuclear holocaust in Threads (1984) remains visceral and urgent” ↗…of a science teacher constructing a gold leaf electroscope using stuff in the school, and plaster dug out of the wall of the classroom to help map radioactivity after a limited-strike nuclear war, in "Warday" by Whitley Strieber & James Kunetka. (at least one of these authors has a bit of a nutty back-story, It's important to remember the book lies solidly in the realms of fiction) I always thought it was…
on “Nu-Klear Fallout Detector (ca. 1962-1968)” ↗…waterfront as a commons is a big thing. There is an entertaining childs book called "unbuilding" by David Macaulay, 1980. It makes me think, as does a chapter in the otherwise rather awful pot boiler "warday" by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka. There is so much value inherent in the construction materials in a modern building. Miles and miles of copper, Aluminium, steel, tiles, sinks, toilets, you-name-it.…
on “A billionaire has rebuilt downtown Detroit” ↗