Having been published back in 1959, i.e. when the space program and commercial jetliner travel were still in their infancy, and whilst we were still in the Industrial Age and therefore less technology-dependent as we are now, not to mention less vulnerable to the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) effects of nuclear weapons as our present-day society would be, this novel is obviously a tad bit dated compared to more recent post-nuclear and other post-apocalyptic fiction books.
Nonetheless, it's still an excellent book, eminently readable and engrossing, and frighteningly realistic, well worth the read.
RANDOM STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS (and noteworthy passages):
--p. 3: "The Russians had sent up another Sputnik, No. 23, and something sinister was going on in the Middle East. Sputnik No. 23 was the largest yet, according to the Smithsonian Institution, and was radioing continuous and elaborate coded signals. 'There is reason to believe,' Frank said, 'that Sputniks of this size are equipped to observe the terrain of the earth below.....'There is a new crisis in the Middle East. A report from Beirut, via Cairo, says that Syrian tanks of the most modern Russian design have crossed the Jordanian frontier. This is undoubtedly a threat to Israel. At the same time Damascus charges that Turkish troops are mobilizing….'" Wow, dated yet paradoxically so prescient in many ways.
--p. 9: "Randy knew he wasn’t an alcoholic because an alcoholic craved liquor. He never craved it. He just drank for pleasure and the most pleasurable of all drinks was the first one on a crisp winter morning." Like the joke says, "I'm not an alcoholic, I'm a drunk, I don't go to meetings!"
--p. 17: "'Nations are like people. When they grow old and rich and fat they get conservative. They exhaust their energy trying to keep things the way they are—and that’s against nature. Oh, the services were to blame too. Maybe even SAC. We designed the most beautiful bombers in the world, and built them by the thousands. We improved and modified them each year, like new model cars. We couldn’t bear the thought that jet bombers themselves might be out of style. Right now we’re in the position of the Federal Navy, with its wooden steam frigates, up against the Confederate iron-clad. It is a state of mind that money alone won’t cure.'”
--p. 29: "B-47’ s," aahh, the pre-52 days of SAC.
--p. 35: "'Then in ‘fifty-eight, after the Iraq king was assassinated, we grabbed the initiative and landed Marines in Lebanon. We got there fastest.'"
--p. 37: Ah yes, the infamous "missile gap."
--p. 55: Since the U.S. was still on the gold standard when this book was written, paper cash could hypothetically still be worth something even during a catastrophe such as nuclear war, I suppose.
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Alas Babylon is the finest nuclear war and its aftermath novel out there
Alas Babylon is a page turner. It was hard for me to put it down, even re-reading it after many years. Published in 1959, it was a very different world than today's. The aftermath of a full on thermonuclear exchange today would surely result in a ten year nuclear winter with dust lingering high in the stratosphere. It cold be the end of humanity and a lot of the world ecosystem. Such an event would be tantamount to the asteroid impact 60 million years ago that wiped out every species bigger than a bread box.Pat Frank wrote this novel as a warning to people. He wanted to make people aware of the true cost of a nuclear war in hope of preventing such a world ending catastrophe.
Top reviews from other countries
Stefan
Loved the story, lots of typos in Kindle version
Reviewed in Germany on July 9, 2016
Darth Maciek
"Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is thy judgment come" If you hear this, be VERY afraid
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 28, 2015
Rorin Cutter
A great book that everyone should read!
Reviewed in Germany on November 29, 2021