Rating: 
Summary: A really great book!
Review: I came across Alas Babylon, when I was working in a bookstore a few years ago. After reading the book I can say it left a great impact on me on how my life would be if a nuclear war ever happen. After moving to Florida last summer, I wanted to read again. I can say the emotional impact was not lost on reading it once more.
Rating: 
Summary: Scary, effective
Review: In "Alas, Babylon", Pat Frank tells us how a small town in Florida named Fort Repose survives the year following a major worldwide nuclear war between the two sides involved in the Cold War that ended in the late 1980s. This book was written in 1959 when fears of nuclear destruction were basically at their peak. The descriptions of post-holocaust life seem quite realistic and plausible.Without giving too much away, the residents of Fort Repose witness the destruction of neighboring cities and discover that they are completely isolated from the rest of the country (what's left of it). With no electricity, communications, or imported goods (the town is surrounded by dangerous radioactive zones), Fort Repose is in big trouble. Fortunately, a couple of the town's residents don't give up hope and struggle to learn the basics of survival in an environment without modern conveniences. Problems which were formerly merely annoying transform into serious impediments. For example, a very near-sighted main character gets his eyeglasses broken and his spare pair has been stolen. Those of you like myself who can hardly function day to day without corrective lenses will be able to relate to this man's despair at being doomed to many months or more of blurry vision. Frank's experience with the military is evident. The buildup to the ballistic missile launches was suspenseful and climactic. The actual warhead explosions over the Floridian cities (witnessed by Fort Repose residents from a distance) seemed realistic and very scary. The novel never really falters, it remains interesting and a page turner right through to the end. It makes clear that recovery from a nuclear holocaust on the scale portrayed would be an excruciatingly slow process due to the near-total loss of manufacturing capacity, intellectual know-how, and mobility due to the impassable radioactive zones. Highly recommended! By most accounts, better than Nevil Shute's The Beach, which I haven't read. If you want to get an idea of what life in a small town would have been like in the 1950s had things gone drastically wrong between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, look no further.
Rating:
Summary: I figured it was another BORING book...
Review: I figured it was another boring book, especially when my English teacher assigned it. She isn't the best judge of good books to read, but suprisingly, I liked it! It has a good plot and the characters are well developed. I'd recommend this to anyone. The book is about people who live normal lives, all of a sudden having their lives turned upside down when a war erupts and huge cities get destroyed. A group of people in one town who have differences have to learn to work together to survive. Randy, the main character, knows about the war but keeps it hidden and it takes the townpeople by surprise. The book keeps you wanting to read it, and sit there until it's done. A good read for anyone! :)
Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: I had to read Alas, Babylon for an English class. I thought that it was going to be another boring Sci-Fi book which I could never understand. But Alas, Babylon hooks you at the begining till the very end! I absolutely loved this book! This weekend, the class was just suspose to read Chapters 1 and 2, but I could not put it down!!
Alas, Babylon really makes you think about the Cold War, espiecally if you did not live during that time.
This is an amazing book that I think anyone could enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Great book I was forced to read, but I'd read again
Review: I had to read thi sbook one year in school, which automatically makes me hate a book, but AlasBabylon was good enough for me to ignore the fact that it was being forced upon me. I'll admit there were some slow parts, but most books have those. This was very interesting. The characters were well written, and the plot and details were more than satisfactory. This is one of my favorite books of all time, read it.
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Summary: Started it all for me
Review: This was the first post-apocalyptic book I read, quite some time ago, and it began my interest and my quest in reading others like it. I love Frank's attention to detail in the survival time after the war. Those details make the reader realize all the little things that we take for granted that would be severely altered if such a war took place. It is not really a book about politics or about war, as much as it is about survival, which is the type of book I like. The story line is not as dated as other classic books (like The Last Ship, or On The Beach, etc.).
Rating:
Summary: Definitely a page turner
Review: ... Although I found Earth Abides to be a better narrative, both books do a wonderful job of capturing the aftermath of the "apocalypse". This was a popular theme in the late 50's/early 60's (just watch a few old Twilight Zones) and Pat Frank more than does it justice. ... the first chapters are fairly slow. What held my attention was the knowledge that everything was going to blow up soon. Although the odds of a small community surviving a nuclear blast in this day and age are slim, it was feasible in the 50's; thus, the premise holds water.
This book is well written. As the characters develop, so does the intensity of the situation. Overall, I'd recommend it to anyone who has an interest in apocalyptic fiction. It's a good book with a clever final statement (albeit a bit played-out).
Rating:
Summary: I liked it when the stuff went boom.
Review: I'll be frank (pun not intended): this isn't the most exciting read I've had. More like a casual skimming of a manual to best case scenario survivor in the event of nuclear holocaust. Gosh, don't you just love it when every answer, every useful idea, every imperative tool falls seamlessly together at the prayer and behest of the uncannily familiar main cast? Of course, the novel is indispensable for precisely that reason. This isn't a standard novel, per se, but a course in what to do when a nuclear strike renders your local neighborhood grocer ill equipped to stock you, your friends, your family, and anything else stashed conveniently on your block. It's a walkthrough, and it serves its purpose admirably. As with nigh all disaster novels ever written, the first hundred pages or so are a bit of a chore, setting up environment that many readers wanting to read strictly a personal novel - not a guide, as this is, but a more typical narrative - will find inductive of drowsiness more than education. Different strokes for different folks, and all that. That all said, it's a lovely read, for the fact Frank knows his general details, which is more than I can say for many novelists of the genre. He isn't much for character development, or plot, but he does a stupendous job of taking the readers from one potential hazard to the next, and informing us how to overcome this obstacle or that. Quality of water, highway robbery, and lethal jewelry all come together to make this book... well, handy, if nothing else. If you're looking for a healthy dose of facts, this is it. The writing itself is a bit pedantic, albeit with a few prize lines worth sticking in your Usenet signature, but the book is worth far more for the straightforwardness with which it instructs. As a plus for those optimistically inclined, the novel isn't half so rife with preaching and moaning as many novels about similar subjects are. It isn't anti-war, but rather, it is pro-humanity.
Rating:
Summary: I did not want it to end
Review: As a speculative tale about the Cold War, written by a former journalist and official in the US War Department, one would expect that Alas Babylon would be a novel filled with intense political theory and alarming words of caution, in the same vain of 1984 by George Orwell or Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Despite his background, however, Pat Frank, keeps the sociopolitical banter to a minimum and writes a wonderful, surprisingly warm novel where character is king. The unforgettable story of the population of River Road in Fort Repose, Florida's day-to-day survival after most of the US is reduced to ashes by Soviet incursion rides on the backs of its unforgettable characters: Randy Bragg, the community's patriarch who taps unknown potential when placed in a position of leadership. Helen Bragg, his sister-in-law who maintains an undying maternal spirit as she gulps down immense anxiety and heartbreaking loss. Dan Gunn, the town's doctor who stays true to his Hippocratic Oath, despite a vast depletion of medicine and other necessities and an increase disparaging situations. Bill McGovern, a former elitist who overcomes self-pity and gets his hands dirty for the sake of survival. The Henries, an African-American family who were once largely ignored but whose industrious spirit and old-fashion know-how now makes them essential to the River Road commune's continuing existence. These memorable caricatures are the meat of Alas Babylon, not a dose of complex, cynical conjecture on mankind's future. Their thoughtless empathy and enduring spirit make Alas Babylon one of the few pieces of speculative fiction that makes the reader feel good about the human condition. Surely, cold and frightening portrayals of a future where humanity makes very wrong sociopolitical turns can be riveting (1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are both knock-out novels) but creating a cast so lovable, so distinctive and so real that they could be your neighbors is Frank's way of keeping his audience glued to his vision of the future. The results is a compelling, vibrant and triumphant novel.
Rating:
Summary: Survivors of nuclear holocost.
Review: This book was required reading back in high school many years ago. I have read it two additional times since. This is great literature out of the Cold War; The United States and Russia trade nuclear blows reverting civilization back 1000 years. A great tale of essential survival with a nuclear twist. Set in Ft. Repose, Florida (I believe it is a fictional city; I'm from Orlando). This is the epitome of the alternate ending of the Cold War. A must read.
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