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)

Excellent 5-star listen

I read this story when it was first released and have replaced my copy several times. It has maintained it's relevancy over the years well. With Will Patton reading, it comes alive. Well worth the money and a continual pleasure in any form.

This was ok

but if you want to know what would happen in modern day times, read One Second After. It goes into much greater detail about what would happen today.

Doesn't Seem Possible that This Is 1959!

What did you love best about Alas, Babylon?

I was resistant to trying this title because I always pick up on outdated technologies in a book and they don't ring true. I needn't have worried. This book is stunning and never for one second did I even realize that this wasn't present day America. Frank sticks to human nature as he explores a post-apocalyptic future, and human nature is the same generation to generation.

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

The Road by Cormac McCarthy is another view of a civilization gone awry, but with a different conclusion. Frank's account relies on the strength of human goodness to build a brighter outcome. We don't known which vision will ultimately be more realistic until the time comes.

What does Will Patton bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I loved the narration of this book. Will Patton's everyman style of delivery was a perfect fit for the setting--small town USA. The characters came alive.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I felt deeply for the characters and looked forward to a conclusion which would bring them some relief from the unknown.

Any additional comments?

I'm still impressed that I read this fifty years after it was written and it was as fresh and insightful as if it had been written yesterday. That's the best compliment I can give an author. A timeless work of fiction that will leave you thinking about the past and the future and what your reaction would be to a similar emergency. A hopeful read.

Essential but Antiquated

This book deserves its place as an Audible Essential, and has aged pretty well, if you don’t mind a little 1950’s sexism. Today there have been many post-nuclear war novels, many quite a bit better than this, but this is one of the very first, and I give it some historical credit for helping transform the idea of nuclear war to the unthinkable. The narration is excellent adding a lot of feeling to the protagonist. The characters and story are pretty simplistic yet nostalgically touching. The story does not have much action (other than a bunch of nudets) and all the problems are now standard post-apocalyptic fare. You can see the strong influence this book had on later novels, like One Second After. I likely won’t read this again, but I am glad to have heard it.

Remember it well

I read this book when I was in 7th grade and it had a great impression on me. I had been looking for the book (it went in and out of print over the years) and was shocked when Audible.com advertised the now had an audible book. Will Patton does more than narrate; he makes it more like listening to a radio drama. I believe this book came out in 1959 (the year my parents bought a Plymouth with huge fins) and everything about nuclear war was interesting to a 13-year old. This was only several years before the Cuban Missile Crisis and I remember how scary that was.

Great. Realistic human reactions

I liked this book so much that I bought a whole lot of other books about the end of the world. Unfortunately they were not as good. Then I listened to this again and loved it all over again.

Breathtaking in its clarity of vision

It's shocking and amazing that such a carefully woven tale filled with nuanced predtictions of a post-apocalypse world could have been created so early in the cold war, by a single author with no specific training in the field. Give and take a few technical changes, this story could easily be told today. It's very entertaining, credible, and the narrator does a fantastic job in bringing the characters to life. The survivalist technocrat will enjoy the clever predictions and modeling of a town cut off, while everyone else will enjoy and relate to the very human tale of a population under extreme stress. Highly recommended. I've listened to the whole thing three times now. Bravo to the Audible team for finding this gem.

Apocalyptic story with no Zombies!

Would you consider the audio edition of Alas, Babylon to be better than the print version?

Will Patton's voice makes this the only way to go for this book. He has the right nuances and cadences to each of the wonderful characters in this book of a Southern Apocalypse. I don't believe just reading the book would do it justice.

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

Earth Abides comes to mind because I listened to that a few years ago. They both tell the stories of survivors of an earth ending event. I liked Alas, Babylon better, only because I thought it was a little more reasonable than Earth Abides, but EA does take place over decades while Alas, Babylon is only a few months. Both are wonderful stories!

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

Will Patton is one of my favorite narrators, I find myself searching for more books he has done. I think my next one of his will be Deliverance. He never lets you down.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I think when Helen makes a pass at Randy and he doesn't know how to handle it, but Lib does and explains to him what is going on in Helen's head. I liked the way it was handled with dignity and strength.

Any additional comments?

This story was written in 1959 so the story could come off as a little dated, but then I look at the world today with North Korea and Iran desperately trying to show themselves as nuclear powers and I think how pertinent this story still is. Take the time to listen to this gem.

A great audiobook

I wasn't sure about this book because of all the changes in the world since it was written, but it's a timeless masterpiece. It was really interesting and made me think. I think I might just install an solar energy system in my house - I can see a lot of reasons for a system like that now instead of just the cost savings.

And in the End, is there an End?

A story of nuclear war. A story of the apocalypse by humankind. A story that could have occurred in 1959; and a story of living in the aftermath of wide spread annihilation. I profoundly remember seeing a Playhouse 90 adaptation of the tale in a 1960 episode. The story, simple in its telling, has prophetic pronouncements of human fashioned horror and of human resiliency; at least now in retrospect having spent 50 years in human interaction.

The story never left my mind and I have used the title Alas Babylon dozens of times to explain a world suffering holocaust. (And usually those around me never understood what I was talking about.) The other night my cousin (also and Audible devotee) told me he was listening to a great story – Alas Babylon.

I had just the prior week downloaded the story to listen to. I went right to the listen and am not disappointed. It is a book of human triumph notwithstanding hominoid demoniacs. It is a book one wants to read (listen to) in one sitting.

By the way, Playhouse 90, Omnibus and of course, the Twilight Zone, have left me with tale after story after literary portrayal that have echoed in my memory all my 67 years. Wish we had them still. The Playhouse 90 stars were Burt Reynolds and the GREAT Rita Moreno (who I earlier saw in my first Broadway Play; By By Birdie.) Memory Lane.