Apocalypse Any Day Now

Deep Underground with America's Doomsday Preppers

By: Tea Krulos

Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer

Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's Summary

It seems like people are always talking about the end of the world, doesn't it? Y2K, the Mayan apocalypse, blood moon prophecies, nuclear war, killer robots, you name it. In Apocalypse Any Day Now, journalist Tea Krulos travels the country to try to puzzle out America's obsession with the end of days. Along the way he meets doomsday preppers - people who stockpile supplies and learn survival skills - as well as religious prognosticators and climate scientists. He camps out with the Zombie Squad (who use a zombie apocalypse as a survival metaphor); tours the Survival Condos, a luxurious bunker built in an old Atlas missile silo; and attends Wasteland Weekend, where people party like the world has already ended. Frightening and funny, the ideas Krulos explores range from ridiculously outlandish to alarmingly near and present dangers.

©2019 Tea Krulos (P)2019 Tantor

Misleading Title. Good book

First off, why did I buy this book: I’m not a prepper and it’s unlikely that I’d adopt that lifestyle. That said, I’m not quick to dismiss those choices. I don’t think society will collapse in my lifetime, but I never thought Obama would be elected and I sure as hell never thought Trump would be elected, so that’s what I know. My interest is primarily academic. Preppers make u a fascinating subculture. Or rather, subcultures. As Krulos demonstrates throughout this book there are many different ways to approach end times, just as there are many different ways for times to end. And indeed the title and subtitle of this book are misleading. There’s a fascinating chapter about tunneling peppers (actually they converted a nuclear missile silo), but this isn’t really about about the diggers. It’s a look at the life of, and relationships among, people who believe society lives on that existential edge. And with that believe in tow, they conduct their affairs accordingly.

With the title disclaimer disclaimed, I was happy the title turned out to be miss-leading. This book is actually kinda fun. There is a terrifying chapter about tunneling doomsday prepares, (I’ll let you judge why it’s terrifying y’own self) but the book really runs the gamut - a veritable pupu platter of people on the precipice of massive, irrevocable life change. In some cases, like the Mars One colony candidates, that life-altering change is personal. Blasting off to Mars on a one-way trip is not the End of the World as WE know it, but it is the end of the world as THEY know it. Side note: I think Krulos ended with the Mars One chapter because it tells of ultimate hope, and this is not a book intended to frighten or bum out readers - again, despite what the title and cover design might imply.

Krulos talked to myriad folks, each of whom draw hugely different conclusions about the trajectory of world events than I do, but none of them sound stupid. This is to Krulos' credit. He writes with respect for the motives and ideas of everyone in this book. And preppers are drawing fair conclusions, given the information coming out of cable news. Fox News might actually be Satan itself, but they’re all evil. Fox. CNN. MSNBC. They have no ideology, they have target demographics, which they endeavor to frighten each-and-every-second of the day. Frightened and/or outraged (outrage is MSNBC’s angle) people crave more information - eg cable news. More info means more eyeballs means more ad revenue. It’s every bit that simple and that cynical. If Fox news could earn a billion dollars a day slinging flower-power and Kumbaya to the masses, they would do it in less than a heartbeat. But none of them are singing Kumbaya, they’re scaring the hell out of people. This book is Krulos' investigation of the resulting impact.

The bullet posts:
• The title is misleading, because there’s really only 1 chapter about the tunneling preppers, but that’s more than okay. All the chapters in this book feature compelling figures and stories.
• If you’re looking for information about how to prepare for end times, this book won’t help much. Krulos talks about some of the skills and material plans made by the subjects of this book, but there’s no instruction section.
• I really enjoyed this book. A lot of this story was new to me. Krulos is a good writer.

I don't really have anything to say about the narrator, which means A+ grade. Narrators can definitely add an extra element to an audiobook, but a seamless narrator is just as good. In that respect, Eric Michael Summerer was outstanding.