What would you do in a modern-day nuclear crisis? Would you leave behind your job at the risk of being fired if nothing—which you pray for—happens? Twin brothers Sheldon and Ellis are keeping a close eye on the development of a war between China and the United States. When it looks like it is about to go nuclear, they realize how close they are drawing the line between evacuation and sheltering in place. On the eve of the war, one brother is poised to head for their remote desert ranch while the other constructs a hasty shelter for his wife who refuses to leave. Their individual choices...

And so it begins.... In the United States, the Department of Defense and the NSA computer networks have been hacked. A nuclear-armed CIA drone has lost all flight control. North Korea...Iran...Russia...and soon the gates of Hell will open. Humanity's most terrifying nightmare has become reality. Bombs are detonated, missiles are launched, counterstrikes are ordered, and within minutes, untold thousands of megatons have left countless millions dead or dying. Devastation of biblical proportions has fallen over the land...and the USA has been hit the hardest.

Written in an accessible and authoritative voice, The Button reveals the shocking tales and sobering facts of nuclear executive authority throughout the atomic age, delivering a powerful condemnation against ever leaving explosive power this devastating under any one person's thumb.

Nearly 30 years after the end of the Cold War, today's world leaders are abandoning disarmament treaties, building up their nuclear arsenals, and exchanging threats of nuclear strikes. To survive this new atomic age, we must relearn the lessons of the most dangerous moment of the Cold War: the Cuban missile crisis. Serhii Plokhy offers an international perspective on the crisis, tracing the tortuous decision-making that produced and then resolved it, which involved John Kennedy and his advisers, Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro, and their commanders on the ground.

How does a person who lives in a wood framed house in the suburbs survive a nuclear war, especially if they don’t have a basement? Turns out, the crazy advice to get into the interior rooms of your house and shelter underneath the mattress isn’t so nuts after all. You don’t need a fallout shelter to survive and you may only have to stay inside to avoid lethal radiation poisoning. How is this possible? A highly overlooked defense against radiation is distance. Basically, if you can get inside away from the radiation outside, the dose you will be exposed to will be around half. This is ...

On a holiday in England, Alex Carhill is caught in the nightmare of a nuclear holocaust. In a matter of hours a mid-summer’s day is turned into a nuclear winter. This is the story of his survival in a world that no longer has rules; where climatic extremes, murder, starvation and disease are commonplace. As the land slowly heals, the survivors scratch together an existence in a contaminated wasteland ravaged by plagues of insects and disease. In this world, through hardship and pain, a new society is forged based on new rules and values moulded from the demands and necessities of life. ...

Drawing on troves of declassified files, including records released by the government for the first time through the author's efforts, Restricted Data traces the complex evolution of the US nuclear secrecy regime from the first whisper of the atomic bomb through the mounting tensions of the Cold War and into the early 21st century. A compelling history of powerful ideas at war, it tells a story that feels distinctly American: rich, sprawling, and built on the conflict between high-minded idealism and ugly, fearful power.

As America stands at the precipice of famine, political instability, a financial disaster, domestic conflict, and even a civil war, preparing one’s home and family are now a matter of survival. Contrary to the popular belief that rural living will allow a prepared individual to ride out the storm unscathed, lessons from history show us that those outside of cities will face similar threats to their suburban compatriots. Rural and remote homesteads and properties can be easily attacked by a superior force utilizing the same isolation that the owner sought. Getting out of the cities is a ...

You might survive a nuclear attack, but would you survive the aftermath? Two friends have a choice: stay in the city and take the chance that they are not pummeled by nuclear warheads or take their chances in the Mojave Desert. Only when it is too late do they make the decision to head for the safety of a friendly ranch, the new home of brothers Sheldon and Ellis from the prequel. The two friends watch as Las Vegas perishes in nuclear fire and must fight their way through a the scared and dangerous evacuees of a two million person metropolis. On their way, they must find shelter in the ...

What would life look like after an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) robs Southern California of electricity, communications, and utilities while cars are starved of fuel? Ventura County, just north of Los Angeles, planned for a nuclear attack, but not a devastating EMP. In the jail, deputy Mika Fischer is left in the dark as the lights suddenly go out and the cell doors won’t lock. As inmates are released, the sheriff’s office must face the realities of the collapse of the modern world. In the aftermath of the apocalypse, the deputies’ honor is tested, but honor can’t fill empty bellies ...