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  • Alas, Babylon

  • By: Pat Frank
  • Narrated by: Will Patton
  • Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (73 ratings)

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Alas, Babylon

By: Pat Frank
Narrated by: Will Patton
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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)

What listeners say about Alas, Babylon

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Blueprint for all good Apocalypse stories

After listening to this book it left me wanting more but as I thought about it this book is almost a blueprint for any media with the same theme. Now that I've concluded with that I feel I've experienced the premier nuclear apocalypse story less of an apocalypse more of a disaster that is overcome by the strong willed that remain

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Best book I’ve ever read

I can’t remember ever being so completely engaged in a story! Wow! I won’t bother reviewing- BUY THIS BOOK IMMEDIATELY

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • LC
  • 27-05-2017

Eerily close to home, even today

The United States unintentionally sparks a nuclear war with USSR when a US fighter plane accidentally strikes a base in Syria, resulting in USSR's nuclear retaliation.

Pat Frank might have written this novel in 1959 but swap USSR for Russia and it's a synopsis that could just as easily be drawn from a future headline.

This was the first time I'd read/ listened to Alas, Babylon and I really enjoyed it - particularly the insight it gave me into 1950s nuclear age. Gender roles are strong - men are brave and protective, women stand by their men and children as nurturers and carers and even little boys carry stiff upper lips.

But how interesting it is to see how society breaks down and yet humanity persists in the face of a nuclear war. Now I've read it, I can see where so many other post-apocalyptic novels, films and games have rightfully drawn their inspiration.

A great read - highly recommended.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A reminder of the world then and now!

Loved this all over again. I read this in my early twenties in the reader's digest. I'm in my sixties now and this book has stood the test of time, completely relevant in the current tumultuous world situation. It should be mandatory reading for today's politicians.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Hands down my favourite audio book of all time.

With over 10 years audible membership and 440+ titles in my audible library, I’m an avid consumer of good quality audiobooks. I first listened to Alas Babylon nearly ten years ago, and it remains my favourite audio book of all time, for several reasons. I love well written post apocalyptic fiction, and this story, published in the late fifties, is, in my opinion, one of the better ones. It’s intelligently written, the characters are well drawn, and the whole story is evocative of an era, time and place that no longer exists (even though the location and nuclear events in the story are fictional, that particular America no longer exists). Will Patton’s narration is superb, and will paint a picture for you.
I’m not usually one for re-reading novels or listening to the same story multiple times, but Alas Babylon is one of my few exceptions to this rule.
Fabulous story and narration.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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The narration is fantastic

The words were written brilliantly, the narration was enthralling, the story - while brilliant too -became second

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

So glad I didn't bail

I think 5mins in I was thinking how grateful I was for Audible's return policy but was gardening and it was easier to keep listening. About 30 mins in I was listening to the politically incorrect language and then googled it and found the book written back in the 50's. I love this genre but a little tired of things always going down the violence path. If you want a great post apoc book that lays out the puzzle before MRE bars were a thing... a book with real characters and a real situation then this is it. So glad I stuck it out because I couldn't turn it off. And the NARRATOR - WOW - thought Kevin Pierce was the be all and end all but this guy - he read true to the period/language, the accents, the diversity. Superb effort. If you loved One Second After then this is number 2 in the list.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic.

Loved every minute of it and it gave me goosebumps on more than one occasion. Not necessarily the deep dive I was hoping for in regards to atomic war and radiation fallout but an extremely well written account of a community coming together after an apocalypse. The narrator did a fantastic job as well.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • Sam
  • 26-03-2021

Great story and fantastic attention to detail but...

I loved this book. I thought it was very good, but not great. I’ll explain what I mean.
I’ve read several books that are quite similar in they deal with a post apocalyptic world with man being sent back to the Stone Age by a terrible cataclysm. Lucifers hammer for example (fantastic book which if you like this style, I recommend highly).
Theirs was a asteroid impact opposed to nuclear war.
The book is well researched and great technical detail which is so important in these type of books. Information about fallout and everything it can affect. A detail about how gold jewellery storing and collections bad radioactive isotopes for example is a detail most would never think about.

The story and obstacles are good but it’s the reason why this got 4 stars rather than 5. There were some good challenges and obstacles for them to overcome but never a major one that kept you guessing and wondering if they could make it. More of a series of dangers and how they fixed them but I never felt the people were truely in deep trouble.

Still a fantastic book but Lucifers Hammer remains my number one spot for this genre

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing & relevant

I loved this book. I was drawn into the world, I cared about the characters, and despite being written in 1959, it feels relevant today.

I’ve recommended this one to my husband, and to anyone else looking for a great novel about the end of civilisation as we know it today.

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