The, Babylon, By Pat Frank

Ensign “Peewee” Cobb in “Alas, Babylon” comes across as the hotheaded American pilot who sparked a nuclear war between the United States and Russia. When pursuing an unidentified aircraft, Cobb fired a missile and missed, blowing up the Syrian harbor Latakia. Because he was convinced he had to prove himself, Cobb impulsively continued tailing the aircraft instead of retreating back to headquarters. While I have never reached the level of foolishness Cobb exhibited, I do sometimes feel a need to prove myself. Pat Frank seems to use Cobb’s recklessness to illustrate the fact that impetuous actions yield negative effects.

Have you ever questioned why and how the US government decided to drop those two nuclear bombs in Japan in the World War II? It is still a universal concern while many disapproval have made toward its humanity. In a book that I’ve read recently, from the point of view of an eyewitness, Yamaoka Michiko, the author of story “Eight hundred meters from the Hypocenter”, shows how humanity was exchanged with the ambition of a nation by reviving a heartbroken experience when she witnessed her hometown was destroyed by such a terrific violence in the war.

The rise of the Soviet Union (USSR) as a new world superpower brought tension between the USSR and the United States. Although the 1950’s was generally nonviolent, confined to only minor conflicts, there was a threatening, looming tension between the two world superpowers. The tension reached its peak when the US completed its first successful hydrogen bomb test. A second, more powerful bomb was successfully detonated in 1954 by the US. Public fallout shelters were established in major cities, and bomb drills were practiced as frequently as fire drills today. The nuclear war that Lord of the Flies suggested was not out of the realm of possibility at its time of publication

The filmmakers’ main ideas are that the government misled and lied to the people of the U.S. so that they would believe that the atomic bomb would have no effect on their health and security, that we should question if the government should have lied to the American people, and to make us question whether or not the citizens of the U.S. would continue to be as naive as the people of the 1950’s.

The threat of nuclear warfare has been a fear tactic used multiple times to settle issues between countries. In Pat Frank’s Alas Babylon, Frank focuses on Fort Repose, a small community in rural Florida. Frank centers the time frame on the height of the Cold War between Soviet Russia and the United States. Opening on how connections can save lives and change lives. Randy Bragg and the town of Fort Repose is dealt a lucky hand when Randy’s brother, Mark, a military man tips Randy off to the threat of a nuclear strike. Mark disguises the warning through a telegram telling Randy that Mark’s wife, Helen, and two children, Peyton and Ben Franklin, will be coming down to visit also asking Randy to meet him at the Base Ops McCoy in Orlando at

Have you ever thought about what kind of technology we will have in the future? Or have you thought about how technology will affect us in the future? In the story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut and the story “By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benet both the futures with technology look pretty awful. In “Harrison Bergeron” anyone with special gifts or talents are forced to wear a handicap to make them like everyone else in society. In “By the Waters of Babylon” tells a story about how our technology is so advanced that if we went to war we would destroy everything we have and we would have to basically restart. In both books our technology in the future is way too strong and

Hydrogen bombs are an exceedingly controversial subject; they enable humans to act as a pseudo god, giving us the ability to destroy all life in a matter of hours. In May 1982 in St.John’s cathedral Kurt Vonnegut gave a unique speech on hydrogen bombs explaining America needs them to protect from fates worse than death. Instead of a traditional and delicate speech about the atrocities of hydrogen bombs Kurt breaks formal etiquette almost immediately with jokes, humor and lightheartedness. By analyzing the diction and syntax Kurt uses in his speech a reader can see how Kurt overcomes controversy, gains his audience’s respect through ethos, and persuades them with logos and pathos.

The book Bomb: The Race to Build–and Steal–the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon is a thrilling, fast-paced story that refines a great deal of history into interesting and understandable literature for practically any age reader. The author, Steve Sheinkin, writes to tell the story of the first atomic bomb, the people who made it possible, and those who challenged its progress. Any person who is interested in science, history, or would like an enjoyable, quick read could read Bomb and easily understand the basics behind the creation of the atomic bomb. Along with the science and mathematics of the atomic bomb, Sheinkin adds the suspense and intrigue from the viewpoints of espionage agents from the Soviet Union, Germany, Great Britain, and the

After World War II, especially in the aftermath of the deployment of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, people were irrationally fearful of the deadly and destructive forces of nuclear warfare. In a section of the book Technology entitled “The Race for Space”, the author examines the psychological effects of fear of nuclear weapons.

Timothy Cole was a 24-year-old student at Texas Tech University. After completing two years of college, he had enlisted in the army for two years in hopes of serving his country. Timothy was an ordinary man with dreams of getting married and having children, but that dream never materialized. Upon his return to Texas Tech in 1985, he was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison for the rape of a 20-year-old girl named Michele Mallin. Mallin, then, a student at Texas Tech University Lubbock, was walking to her car when a man approached her and held a knife to her neck. He forced himself into her car and drove her to the outskirts of town where he raped her repeatedly. The next day the police investigator showed Michele pictures of the suspect where she pointed at Timothy Cole. When police showed her a lineup, again she picked Cole. “I was positive,” she said. “I really thought it was him,” but in fact she had accidently robbed an innocent man of his freedom (Lavendra 2009).

Though people questioned why acts of war were committed, they found justification in rationalizing that it served the greater good. As time evolved, the world began to evolve in its thinking and view of the atomic bomb and war. In Hiroshima, John Hersey has a conversation with a survivor of the atomic bomb about the general nature of war. “She had firsthand knowledge of the cruelty of the atomic bomb, but she felt that more notice should be given to the causes than to the instruments of total war.” (Hersey, 122). In John Hersey’s book, many concepts are discussed. The most important concept for the reader to identify was how society viewed the use of the bomb. Many people, including survivors, have chosen to look past the bomb itself, into the deeper issues the bomb represents. The same should apply to us. Since WWII, we have set up many restrictions, protocols and preventions in the hope that we could spare our society from total nuclear war. The world has benefited in our perspective of the bomb because we learned, understand, and fear the use of atomic weapons.

The first use of nuclear weaponry in warfare occurred on the morning of August 6, 1945 when the United States dropped the atomic bomb known as “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan. The result was devastating, demonstrating the true power of nuclear warfare. Since the incident, the world has been left fearing the possible calamity of another nuclear war. Joseph Siracusa’s Nuclear Weapons: A Very Short Introduction explains aspects of nuclear weaponry from simply what a nuclear weapon is, to the growing fear from nuclear warfare advancements in an age of terrorism. The book furthered my education on nuclear weapons and the effect they place on society, physically and mentally.

The end of World War II was not just the end of a war, but also the beginning of a tense and dynamic period that affected society on all levels. This “postwar” period, as it became known, shaped the world, as we know it today; likewise, the period was shaped itself both by the war that had preceded it, and the powerful forces that surrounded it. As the energy of fundamentally different ideologies, Communism and Democracy collided with advances in science such as the nuclear bomb, a dangerous environment ensued that created an atmosphere of paranoia throughout the world and especially, within America.

Passing through the St. George area, Estelle remarked on the nuclear contamination in the area from the atomic bomb testing, and the many diverse cases of cancer in the people living here then. Our extraterrestrial visitors became curious as to those events which led us into a long discussion of warfare on Earth and the horrors it had brought, and the worries and politics of Nuclear power. This occupied our conversation for many miles as we lamented the missed potential, the waste and the suffering brought forth by the Nuclear genie.

The 1964 film, Fail-Safe answers the question “what if nuclear war was started by accident?” by offering a reasonable example, mechanical malfunction. It demonstrates how the government’s organizational structure combined with prolonged paranoia and increased reliance on computer technology is a lethal recipe when things go wrong. Fail-Safe continues to effectively leave viewers with chills as we examine our governmental structure and use of technology as a crutch today. Nuclear war caused by a mechanical malfunction is the central crisis in the film.