I suppose I'm cheating by reviewing this book now, given that it's on my list of books to read in 2008. But my list is long, and my time is short, so I got a head start by a couple of weeks and read Pat Frank's Cold War thriller Alas, Babylon.This is one of those books about which I knew absolutely nothing before starting it and still haven't entirely formed an opinion. The premise of the book is quite simple. The Soviet Union launches nuclear war on the United States and succeeds in destroying much of it. The story itself is set in the small town of Fort Repose, Florida, which escapes the brunt of the attack largely due to its isolation. Readers follow Randy Bragg who attempts to protect his family and friends and rebuild life (and hope) in the wake of a devastating nuclear attack.
In many ways, the book offers a fascinating look not so much at post-nuclear holocaust but at the sociological and psychological fallout from a massively destructive event. How do people respond? Where does hope come from, and what propels people to believe that hope can still exist? On a more practical note, how do people simply get by when the societal infrastructure so familiar to everyone ceases to exist in a moment? What about problems like disease and crime--or more basic but no less important things like marriages and birth certificates? I remember one of my teachers saying that during the English Civil War, there was a period of time when the Church of England was unable to officiate marriages and births, leaving the general public with no way of being officially married or even born. That isn't to say that marriages can't be performed and children can't enter the world, but once the structure is rebuilt, how does one account for the lapse, and how are the blanks filled in? It's honestly a fascinating question, and something for which no one can really prepare. But Frank does a very good job of looking at both the big-scale problems and the small details that affect the daily lives of people who find themselves trapped in a world where society has collapsed.
In many ways, though, the story is now obsolete: we are no longer in the Cold War, and the threat of a nuclear holocaust from Russia seems less and less likely. The terrorist threats that people face are on an entirely different scale, and the United States has an evolving approach to dealing with the evolving face of outside (or inside) threats. What is more, this book is very much of its era in terms of the concerns that Frank raises about the government. I took the time to read teh introduction before starting the book, and one of the things that the intro writer noted was that Frank spent years working in the government before beginning his career as a novelist. His goal in writing fiction was to indicate to the general public where the lapses in government protection were and let Americans know that they weren't as safe as they might have thought (although I don't know if anyone in the Cold War felt "safe" for very long). What is more, much of the story feels loaded with Frank's ideas about what the government needs to do. One of his peripheral characters is a retired Navy admiral who was finally ousted because he felt that the military should be focusing its energies on the submarines, based largely on the advice of men like Admiral Rickover who proposed streamlining the submarine community and outfitting subs with the kind of firepower that would make the Soviet Union tremble (with a hint, hint, nudge, nudge from Frank). For historical purposes, I guess it's helpful to know that the Navy eventually did just that--but without the fanfare that accompanies jet warfare. Subs are considered the silent service, patrolling quietly and keeping a close eye on enemy activity. And they proved to be essential to the idea of nuclear deterrence. I don't know, but perhaps the knowledge that floating just offshore might have been subs carrying more firepower than was used during World War II--including, but not limited to, the atom bombs--could have kept the Soviet Union at bay. Rickover may have been a nut (may have been? he was definitely a nut), but his ideas were useful. I suppose it's possible Frank might not have been high up enough in the chain of operations to know about all the sub activity in his day.
But I digress. There were little places throughout the story that peeved me, in that they indicated a political agenda on Frank's part far too clearly. It's arguable that he's offering propaganda just like the US government was offering its citizens. All of this aside, Alas, Babylon is still a fascinating read that tends to sit with you. It doesn't feel particularly fresh in the subject matter, but it has moments of great pertinence in forcing the reader to think about what happens in the case of massive devastation. I for one got terribly angry with the idea of these weapons. When we've reached the point of being able to basically obliterate the earth, it's time for all sides to start waving the white flag. We've lost to ourselves. What a tremendous waste. I'm not anti-war, but I refuse to support the kind of war that cannot be won because it has no real purpose except to destroy. Over and over, characters in the story ask, "Who's winning?" or "Who won?" And the answer is pretty much the same: there is no winner.
However out-of-date Alas, Babylon feels in places, it at least gives us this reminder: we hope never to see the day that the story prove to be history instead of fiction.
