So clearly I intended to write this posting a LONGGGG time ago. I’ve been saving it because both of these books are two of the best I’ve read in a long time. I strongly suggest them as immediate reading. (And in case the FTC is monitoring blogs now, I did not receive any compensation to make these recommendations!)
The first is a work of fiction (I hope) and the second is non-fiction/history. Both are related to a potential catastrophe facing the United States of America and how its citizens do (or might) respond.
“One Second After” by William R. Forstchen tells the tale of a North Carolina mountain town that struggles to survive after a massive EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack on the USA. The science behind the fiction is as fascinating and disturbing as the storyline. In brief, if you explode a nuclear weapon in the atmosphere (as opposed to at ground level), the EMP will fry every type of electronic/transistor in every piece of modern machinery. I don’t want to give away much of the plot — but involves a complete breakdown of civilized society because we are so wed to modern electronics to get through each day.
How serious is the EMP threat you might ask? Chillingly real. There has been at least one Congressional hearing on the subject each of the past several years. Here is a link to an account of the most recent (July 2009).
If you want a great “future is now” thriller that will keep you turning pages and crapping your pants wondering when this might happen for real — definitely buy “One Second After“.
My second recommendation is a relatively “old” book (1997) that just came to my attention recently. It is called “The Fourth Turning” by William Strauss and Neil Howe. Here’s the Amazon.com review which sums it up nicely:
The Fourth Turning continues the project of mapping out the place of generations in history, a project begun in the authors’ earlier books Generations and 13th Gen. If millennial fever takes hold, The Fourth Turning may be only the first of an impending wave of pseudo-scholarly tracts prognosticating future (but imminent!) doom as we collectively close the books on this millennium. Those expecting a serious or dry tome might be put off by the authors’ taste for bulleted text and catchy phrasings, but can you blame these guys for wanting to make impending peril as exciting as possible? After all, they think we are headed toward “events on par with the Revolution, the Civil War, or World War II” in the next 20 years. Mixing solid understanding of present generational divisions, with some fairly broad generalizations, Strauss and Howe promise to move from history to prophecy.
Their other two books are now on my list as I’ve become fascinated with the different dynamics of generations, especially as it impacts American history and its future. Many of their predictions from1997 are today’s headlines, so perhaps it is more impactful to read it now than when it was first published.
So there you go. Two long overdue book recommendations from me — he who rarely has time to read a magazine!! I read both of these quickly earlier this summer. They are both engaging and terrifying at the same time.
My reading habits will hopefully improve since PatriotPartner got me an Amazon Kindle for my 41st birthday last week. Yay!
-Bruce (GayPatriot)
I read The Fourth Turning back in ’02, and again earlier this year. It’s eerie how spot-on Strauss and Howe were!
I got the notice on FB and forgot to wish you a Happy Birthday. Hope you have a good one. I recall telling you what a Kindle was when I asked if GP would be available on it.
Well we know the Obama WH would immediately start distributing those “family-sized” bottles of Astroglide while DHS Secretary Napolitano instructs us on how to bend over and grab our ankles.
I read “One Second After”, found it very convincing. With my engineering background, I couldn’t find fault with the premise. Forstchen makes a convincing case for how quickly things fall apart, and how quickly people become willing to do things they thought they never would.
Disturbing, and so very possible.
Happy Birthday! The Fourth Turning is astounding! I got a kindle recently too 🙂 Maybe I will get to “One Second After” I keep getting distracted with that one. I also just recently started Liberal Fascism. The first chapter of which freaked me out a little.
DOOM DOOM DOOM 🙂
Happppppppy B-Day!
I also read “One Second After” a few months ago and found it quite unnerving — all the more so because it’s quietly methodical and relentless in unrolling the consequences. I’ve been aware on a general level of the potential EMP effects of a high-altitude nuclear blast for years; Forstchen brings it down to a personal and community level. ..bruce..
Strauss is apparently right that the world is changing, because there is a financial crisis and everything and the decline of the United States as we know it, but there’s always major changes and huge events throughout all parts of history, so you can just pick anything and make it a huge event.
In that sense, he may be right about cycles, but huge events do not necessarily have to be connected with cycles.
Other question is how would terrorists be able to carry out a One Second After attack? I mean how do they have the technology to explode a nuke really high in the air?
Just a question I want to know.
Suck up to Putin or the Chi-Comms.
Or just rent a corporate jet…
Really it doesn’t need to be that high to cause disaster in the US. A good blast to take out NY/DC and fry eveything east of the Applachians would play havok with the nation and the economy. When the WTC went down, we lost one internet hub and the chaos it caused was nuts. To lose the entire coast?
The possibility of an EMP attack on the US outlined in “One Second After” would be a small nuke on top of 3 short range missiles launched from a ship in the Gulf of Mexico.
The combo of NoKo & Iran have all of the pieces right now.
Who needs a missile? Just insert the ‘device’ in a shipping container. It doesn’t even need to be unloaded where US Customs might find it, it could just be sitting offshore on-board in the harbor. With enough ‘uumph’, you could even be offshore still in international waters and still get the anticipated effect…and for that you don’t even need to containerize the weapon for concealment.
Worrying about missile-delivered warheads is political-useful for the home audience…but from a strategic-POV, all that’s required is to insert the device into the international products-delivery network and let your target deliver the device into Port Elizabeth, Baltimore, Seattle, Long Beach or Haifa for you.
True, Ted. But that would be a “conventional” nuke attack. The EMP has to be delivered at high altitudes in order to “fry” every electronic device within a “line of sight” of the blast. The author estimates only three airborne nukes could cripple the entire continent.
I’ve wondered if Imadinnerjacket will try an EMP burst over Israel, then invade.
Livewire,
“I’ve wondered if Imadinnerjacket will try an EMP burst over Israel, then invade.”
I doubt Iran will make a direct threat to Israel. The most likely scenario, IMO, is that Iran will use it’s nuclear weapons to intimidate Arab allies of the US into refusing bases and right rights to US military forces. Then provide whatever weapons are necessary to Hamas and Hezbollah to attack Israel with impunity. Iran will use it’s weapons that way as a bully to prevent any military action to assist Israel, isolating Israel and trying to destroy that country in detail. The only risk to Iran in that scenario is that the US may actually have the balls to take whatever measures are necessary to defend Israel anyway.
But, hey, with that appeasing man-child in the White House, what are the odds?