When Randy Bragg receives a telegram from his older brother ending with the words "Alas, Babylon," he knows disaster is near. The two words were Randy and Mark's code for impending disaster, whether trivial or horrific.
In this case, Mark, an Air Force Intelligence officer, fears that World War III is imminent, and wants not only to alert Randy of this real threat, but let Randy know to expect Mark's family's arrival in relatively safe Ft. Repose, Florida.
Alas, Babylon, by Pat Frank (pen name of Harry Hart Frank), one of the "first apocalyptic novels of the nuclear age" describes life in the fictional town of Fort Repose, Florida immediately following a full-scale nuclear strike on the United States, less than 12 hours after Mark's wife and children's arrival. The people in Fort Repose must learn to come to grips with their new reality: store shelves that are soon empty, no gas for the cars, meds for diabetes (and later, typhoid fever), and a government breakdown, where each person, each town is an island. The book follows the struggles of those living on River Road in Ft. Repose for that fateful first year.
A year after the devastation, the residents of River Road are visited an Air Force helicopter, carrying Randy and Mark's friend Paul Hart - now a colonel - along with his crew, bringing news from the outside. As Paul gets ready to leave, Randy asks the question on everyone's mind: "'Paul, there's one thing more. Who won the war?'
"Paul put his fists on his hips and his eyes narrowed. 'You're kidding! You mean you really don't know?...We won it. We really clobbered 'em!' Hart's eyes lowered and his arms drooped. He said, 'Not that it matters.'
"The engine started and Randy turned away to face the thousand-year night."
Although Alas, Babylon was published in 1959, it is still every bit as relevant as it was when it was published, and well worth the read.
