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)

Classic post nuclear Apocalypse story

In Alas Babylon, Pat Frank provided one of the first atomic war disaster stories that is still chilling when reading it in 2011. I first read this book in the 60’s and will always remember the list of contaminated zones being read on the radio which included the phrase: “the New England States”. Although the story presents several of the difficult trials and tribulations affecting a central Florida town of Fort Repose, it does so in a fairly innocent way. The classic confrontations between roaming bad guys and the town seems more like a clash with bullies than the outside threat that other books describe. While it is a bit naïve, it was still fun to read again. I give Alas Babylon a good read.

A great apocalyptic read.

A great story for anyone who loves the "nuts and bolts" of post apocalyptic fiction. While a lot of apocalyptic fiction includes tons of action, and never ceasing antagonists, this story is actually quite calm and while it was very interesting, I never felt like I had to rush through some shootout just to hear how they set up a water supply, or what they did for food. in general, just a good read.

Also, an important note. A lot of apocalyptic fiction today is written from the Republican/conservative point of view, this however is refreshingly not. It is not overly political either. it is on the sexist side, as far as "a woman's place" and all that, buy given the time period I'm not surprised. There is also some talk of racism, but the narrator makes it clear he is pro integration, and the black characters, while somewhat over "southernised" have as full storylines as any other characters.

A Cut Above

A post-apocalyptic yarn from the late 50s? Sounded like it would be Mad Men meets The Road. Probably be kind of irrelevant, too. Horrendously dated for a start, full of square jawed men and fainting women facing down Those Dirty Commies. Well, so much for preconceptions.

Short version is it's just a great story that's very well told and with pitch-perfect narration. Will Patton really does do a first class job here from start to finish.

Thoroughly recommended.

Thoroughly enjoyable story. Great narration.

Pat Frank tells a great story of survival in the aftermath of nuclear armageddon. The characters are well developed and you care about their outcome. The narrator does a very good job voicing the characters and paces the story so that it is always interesting.
I've listened to this story three times over the years and it never gets old.

Super Good

This was one of the first end of the world books I ever read and it, along with The Stand by Stephen King, got me hooked on this genre. Both were interesting, but I think Alas Babylon was better written and more realistic. It was a riveting story that grabbed me from the beginning. I loved the male lead and admired his resourcefulness. There are several other characters featured in the book and they are all quite vivid. I highly recommend this book - particularly if you love end of the world as we know it style of books. If you have not read a book in this genre, Alas Babylon is a good place to start.

Will Patton is a fantastic narrator. I always enjoy listening to him read books and he is outstanding in his performance of Alas Babylon. He makes this great book even better.

Frank and Patton: A Fabulous Combination!

As a 5th grader growing up in Homestead, Florida (former home of SAC-Homestead Air Force Base), during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Pat Frank's stunning novel, Alas, Babylon, is as powerful today as it was when it was first published. I am a HUGE Will Patton fan and have listened to everything he has read-even if I had already enjoyed the written word. Patton's brilliant narrative brings each character to life. What a fabulous combination: Frank and Patton. Bravo!

As realistic today as when it was written in 1959

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

I read this book in high school as required reading in the 60s and thought it was excellent. Over the years I have read it at least an additional three times...maybe more. It is a great character study with true to life scenarios. It depicts in great detail the horrible aftermath of an all out nuclear war. No one would win and the book explains why that is. I highly recommend it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Randy Bragg, the main character, who becomes a leader when a tremendous burden is placed upon him. Does history make the man or does the man make history?

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

Absolutely. I couldn't put it down and I had read it before!

Any additional comments?

It is easy to see why this book is a classic. It is well worth the investment in time to listen to no matter where you live or what your age is.

Babylon has fallen, and she is getting up!

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

It is hard for me to rank any book, but I definitely would rate this as one near the top of my list. While it was written years ago, the reactions of the characters still are valid for our times, provoking thought and introspection. But what really made it enjoyable was the narrator.

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed watching the growth of the main characters juxtaposed with the descent into base animalistic living of others.

Which character – as performed by Will Patton – was your favorite?

I can't single out one character, but rather want to say Patton has one of the most pleasant, engaging voices of all the narrators I have listened too. I will be looking for other books just to hear his presentation.

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

When the little girl discovered the hidden room, and music came back into their lives, was one of my favoirte moments. She became the hero she wanted to be just by being curious little girl.

Any additional comments?

This book also struck a chord for me as I grew up near Omaha and the other bases and missile silos in the area. The reality of living near a definite target area helped me begin to fight the fog of addiction and draw closer to a Higher Power, which eventually became God.

Intriguing and absorbing listen

Yet another book I would have missed but for the Daily Deal. I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The premise is frightening and all too believable, and the author treats it with seriousness and thought. In the second part of the book, the dialogue and descriptions veer toward the Wild West, but it's not bad, just cliched.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the women are such cardboard characters that it becomes funny. Hey, women can do stuff! They can, uh, sew! Make breakfast! Organize a household! And there must be something else they can do . . . uh, no, can't come up with anything else. Did I mention they make a damned good cup of coffee? It's so retro that it's amusing, not irritating. I know it's 1959, but even considering that, it's unusually pathetic. Perhaps the author didn't know many women.

Anyway, it's definitely worth a listen. It's a plausible view of WWIII and its aftermath. It would be interesting paired with James Howard Kunstler's The World Made By Hand and The Witch of Hebron, recent imaginings of the life of a small town after the breakdown of the U.S. political system and the disappearance of oil and electricity. I read both of these and can't comment on the audio editions, but I recommend both books.

Classic that still sounds current!

Alas, Babylon wasn’t the first post-apocalyptic novel (it was originally published in 1959), but it is a quick beautiful read that still has relevance today. Will Patton does a great job narrating – he sounds smooth like a song but sad like he knows the bombs have destroyed most of America. Patton clearly knows how to feel apocalypse, he was in the movie Armageddon and he currently stars in the alien-apocalypse TV series Falling Skies. Some novels seem racist, sexist, simple, or just poorly written as time plods on but Alas, Babylon maintains its original power. It is a read-in-highschool novel, as it should be. For those of us who didn’t get to this one in school, the audiobook clocks in at just over 11 hours.