Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank: A vivid portrayal of a nuclear apocalypse

It is easy to think global when one speaks of nuclear war. There is the image of a globe with missile trajectories criss-crossing one hemisphere with another. Then follows great speeches, and international conferences, and then peace, and finally, nuclear winter and humanity's eventual decision on which path to take. Indeed, when we think of nuclear war we think of Stalin, of Kennedy...as time passes it is becoming less and less of a real possibility and more and more of a phantasm of the past.

In Alas, Bablyon, Pat Frank does not relegate nuclear war to ranks of an Ice Age or a Great Flood. He tells it through ordinary beings from a small town: they way they think, they way they react, and ultimately, the way they respond to the extraordinary calamity that befalls them. This portrayal repatriates a nuclear war into the land of possibility; and it makes for excellent telling for the future generations (like ours) who ought to be reminded of the spectre of a nuclear apocalypse. Here, in one book, is the justified paranoia of an entire generation, distilled, and commemorated.

Randy Bragg, the heir of a small political family who ends up in a state of is the protagonist and he guides. Characters such as the local doctor, Dan Gunn, is shown trying to make do with what they have (i.e. medicines geting more and more scarce) in order to surive. This 'heroism' is contrasted with the other possibility: hooliganism and opportunism. Indeed, Pat Frank illustrates how profound events such as calamities and wars can bring out the best and worst in man. Interspersed in the plot are both factual and hypothetical consequences of a nuclear war, such as radioactive jewelry, a small-town militia government, and dealing with increasingly limited resources.

The geopolitical background of the story is resurrected in the final lines of the story. The question of who won the nuclear war was raised, but it was deemed irrelevant. Why? Because the whole of humanity loses and suffers greatly in any such conflict. Pat Frank ends with a powerful and convincing argument against nuclear war but at the same time leaves us with the hope of humanity's indomitable spirit. Indeed, we may yet face a global calamity, but we too may yet brave the catastrophies that lie ahead of us in both the distant and not-so-distant future.