Alas, Babylon

By: Pat Frank

Narrated by: Will Patton

Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

This true modern masterpiece is built around the two fateful words that make up the title and herald the end - “Alas, Babylon.” When a nuclear holocaust ravages the United States, a thousand years of civilization are stripped away overnight, and tens of millions of people are killed instantly.

But for one small town in Florida, miraculously spared, the struggle is just beginning, as men and women of all backgrounds join together to confront the darkness. Will Patton's narration paints this classic tale as an ominous picture of the terrible possibilites of the nuclear age.

©1959 Harry Hart Frank (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Winner, Fiction, 2012

"An enthralling and vivid story of the follies and failures of people, their courage and cruelty, their treachery and triumphs. Mr. Frank is a magnificent writer." ( Chicago Sunday Tribune)

"A warm, continuously interesting story of what can happen to a group of ordinary people in a perilous situation." ( New York Herald Tribune)

“Will Patton is a calm and steady narrator whose quiet intensity wraps around this post-apocalyptic saga...He reflects the tones of deference of women to men, nonwhites to whites, and children to adults. In a conversational tone, he quietly brings the characters and their relationships to life.” ( AudioFile)

Riveting Book!

I really enjoyed this book. It should be a best-seller if its not now. The listener sees everything in their own mind so clearly regarding what is happening. This storyline set back in the dark ages really made me happy I didn't live back in those days!

Seems timely given current republican candidates

As good as when I read it years ago. Current election has helped me to become very dystopian.

It is better than I remember from my childhood!

A ten-year old boy growing up in central Florida in 1965, I read this book. It was 3 years after the Cuban Missile Crisis and my father had installed a fall-out shelter in the back yard.

The book scalded itself into my memory, to the point that I would be relieved to confirm that the flash from the West was not Tampa going up, but was lightning.

I was amazed by two things, listening to the book 52 years later: 1. How well I had remembered about 5 scenes, and 2. just how good this book was.

The characters were real and remain current. The writing remains fresh.

This is a book about the challenges of a very lucky group surviving global nuclear war. It's not perfect, as an adult I know an electric motor can easily be turned into a generator to run a radio, but this book is magnificent!

great story but outdated

At first I felt ripped off when I found out this is written 57 years ago. I kept listening and found it was a great story. Will Patton always does an excellent job. The characters likeable and I wanted to get to know them better. Altogether great read. If you picked it up because you wanted to know about modern day apocalypse this is not for you.

Great Find

I did not know what to expect from a book published in 1959. Although I worried that it might be dated, nothing could have been further from the truth. It was a well written and well narrated book that had just enough build-up, action and human drama. It was a surprisingly entertaining find.

It's a nice story

I like how the narrator has a Southern accent, it seems to fit in nice with the characters but not so pleasing to listen to for a sci-fi like this. It is a good performance but not to my taste.

The story has a nice theme, interesting viewpoint but is pretty bland in the progression. There wasn't any part that was particularly suspenseful.

A solid telling of classic apocalypse fiction

What made the experience of listening to Alas, Babylon the most enjoyable?

The voice narration was very well done. The story was good, if a bit exagerated and naive in places.

What other book might you compare Alas, Babylon to and why?

I would loosley compare it to The Earth Abides in that they're both post-apocalypse fiction and deal with the troubles of rebuilding a community of sorts. In Alas Babylon, they're quite a bit more restricted in movement due to the radioactive areas around them. Other than that, they both deal with having to make do without modern conveniences, though they do try to continue on with them as long as possible. Both books mildly address a return to primitive ways.

Have you listened to any of Will Patton’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't listened to any of his other performances, but I did like this one quite a bit. He did a very good job developing voices for the various characters in the story and it was easy to keep track of who was who for the most part. Female characters are always a problem for male narrators and this performance suffered in that regard also.

Any additional comments?

A classic post-apocalyptic tale with a very solid voice performance. I would highly recomend this.

Great Re-Visit to an All Time Classic

As revelent then as it is now. Puts you in the scene imagining how you would cope were disaster to strike.

Wow!

This book is as appropro today as it was 60 years ago. Very tightly written.

Post-apocalyptic story, well-developed characters

Where does Alas, Babylon rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of my favorites, because I love post-apocalyptic stories and this one tells it without the grim depressed feeling so many others have.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters in the story are courageous, real and flawed. Not predictable.

Have you listened to any of Will Patton’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. Not that intense that you couldn't stop for the night. But I never lacked interest in what would happen next.