Alas Babylon

Alas Babylon

Alas,   Babylon: Essay
Composed by:   (\/)ATT   ©( )LL][ /V S
English II Honors
Mrs. Cottingham


























The possibility of thermonuclear war is   a relatively new concept. The author of this novel, Alas Babylon, by Pat Frank, was a journalist during World War II. After the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thus bringing an end to the War, Pat decided to explore the possibility of an all out nuclear exchange with our most powerful enemy. In this chiller, written in 1959, he conceives what it could be like if that were to ever take place. Problems to the affect of, an end to all industrialization,   the process of evolution and natural selection, the attitudes and personalities of people changing to make a more hardened society, among others are all topics of this work.
Could you imagine the Paradigm Shift that would take place in the world, industry-wise, if a   nuclear war broke out? The effects would be disastrous, if not incomprehensible.   Stop a minute and think about that. As seen in Alas, Babylon, as soon as the war began no more shipments of ANYTHING would arrive. This includes, gasoline, all food, medicine, coal for the power plants, or anything else that is needed to sustain a highly industrialized nation. If the cities were still existing then things might halfway get back to normal, (unless the country is engulfed in a crime wave because of the crises). But even if the raw goods from around the world, wheat, oil, iron, (just to name a few), were shipped in they would have no where to be processed. Depending on the level of destruction wreacked,   the enemy would be guaranteed to destroy not just the military, but the government, and anything else that classifies us as a first notch nation in commerce and industry. We would come to a halt as soon as the power plants ran out of fuel and the gasoline pumps ran dry. Being thrust back into the 19th century, is...