Author: Pat Frank

Written in 1959, this classic about thermonuclear war and its aftermath is dated, but still worth reading. Between 1959 and now we have learned a lot more about radiation and its effects and the global effects of huge numbers of nuclear bombs being detonated in a nuclear exchange such as the one described here. In other words, I seriously doubt the people in this book would have survived, and even if they survived the initial "war" they wouldn't have lasted for any great length of time. So know that you're going to have to really suspend disbelief on this one.

Additionally, times have changed and therefore cultural attitudes as well. The depiction of what attitudes were like in a small southern town is probably not accurate by today's standards, in regard to prejudices and class distinctions.

Having said that, I recently re-read this book and enjoyed it thoroughly. I think this is because most of the book details the aftermath, how they survived day by day, with nifty details from coping with a lack of salt, to how they got water, to even what they ate as time went on. There is not a huge amount of character development--let's face it, Stephen King would have turned this story into a 1,000 pages or more and you would really feel you knew the people in the end. But Frank does what he set out to here, which is to write a cautionary tale, with a dollop of hope thrown in for good measure. For its time, it is actually quite extraordinary.