Rating: 
Summary: great, but a little outdated.
Review: I am in my mid twenties so I was not afforded the displeasure of living through most of the Cold War. Therefore, "Alas,Babylon" was a book I didnt quite identify with. At least not as much as a baby boomer might.
That being said, It is nessecary to understand to fully appreciate this book. The book itself is great. I had trouble putting it down and finished it in about 48hrs. It is the story of a families life during a nuclear war. I estimate the time period to be around the late 50's to early 60's. The novel drags a bit in spots but the overall effect is gratifying. I feel the novel gets the point across while being very entertaining.
While it is not even a close second to "A Canticle For Leibowitz" it is still a good book. I would recommend it to a friend.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding
Review: Even though this book was written over 40 years ago, it is still very pertinent. Part of what I enjoyed about this book was that it was centered around a group of people that really weren't prepared for such an event.
Actually, I have become akmost obsessed with making sure I have plenty of salt since rading this book!
Rating:
Summary: Out of the ashes
Review: The ultimate "doomer" novel, Babylon remains a classic. In the aftermath of nuclear war, "the only winning move is not to play" becomes evident when both sides are nearly annihilated. Randy Bragg takes control of his small Florida town and struggles to maintain order and survive. Interesting story of survival and what might happen if life as we know it suddenly ended.
Rating:
Summary: Almost too good . . . .
Review: I read this book as a teenager and was so taken by it that I would reread it several years in a row. Its picture of life after a nuclear war is harrowing and frightening. In a sense, this is a prelude of the story that concludes with "On the Beach". The only problem is that Frank writes so well and gives such a hopeful slant to the possibility of survival that some readers might want to be there when the missles start to fall. (By the way, this much superior to that mess of a movie "The Day After"--and, oh how I wish, it would have made a splendid film. I believe it was made as a Playhouse 90 for TV in the 50s. Oh, would I love to see that!)
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: While Nevil Shute's "On the Beach" deals with nuclear war after the fact, Pat Frank puts the reader right in the middle of the war and lets them witness firsthand the mass hysteria and carnage that would accompany the beginning and aftermath in the first few years afterwards. The actual beginning of the nuclear war occupies only the first few chapters of the book, and the fallout, both literally and figuratively, is what makes up the rest. Having the reader in the middle of the action is what hits home the most--especially when the radio address by the new president, a woman who is about twentieth in line to succeed the president, reads a complete listing of the areas with so much fallout that people are forbidden to enter or leave them. Chills will run down your spine when you read this part and realize that you are right in the midst of one of these zones. This book is more optimistic than Nevil Shute's, so perhaps it's less realistic. However, Frank weaves a wonderful story of people picking up the pieces of the shattered world and managing to move on together in the face of such tragedy. Definitely a worthwhile read.
Rating:
Summary: Takes the reader to a different world, magnificently
Review: This was required reading for me in a high school freshman English class. Am I glad! As one of the first books I read as an adolescent, it awakened in me the potential power of books, how they can inspire and get us in touch with our feelings. How to some extent they can tell us whether we are even feeling, by whether we are emotionally connecting with the book. I really was sucked into this post-apocalyptic adventure, with its highwaymen and primitive fight for subsistence. Somehow the idea of a post-apocalyptic world forces us to get in touch with ourselves, by removing what is phony and comfortable and, often, unearned. There is love, action, thought and feeling here. A tremendously entertaining book.
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