Warday: And the Journey Onward
by Whitley Strieber, James Kunetka

Our Price: $12.75
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.22 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

Book Reviews of Warday: And the Journey Onward

Book Review: Dated though Chilling
Summary: 5 Stars

The premise of the novel is simple enough-it is a journalistic travelogue compiled by Streiber and Kunetka over a period of five years, as they travel across their wrecked homeland in search of answers as to what happened on 'Warday', when a short and limited nuclear war changed the world forever. Along the way we get some fascinating insights into the political, sociological and economic after-effects of the war. Most amusing is the almost superstitious fear about radioactivity, especially in post-war California, which takes over as the economic and political heart of the U.S., as well as the comical but tragic paranoia about refugees. The authors hold no punches though about showing the horrible aftermath in its detail, ranging from burns, sickness, involuntary euthenasia, starvation, plague, famine, and the other effects which end up claiming 70 million or so American lives in the war's aftermath.

In realism, the novel is quite accurate. The nuclear war is triggered when the U.S. builds a space-based 'star wars' system, which apparently leads Russia to believe its deterrent will be useless. Russia then launches a first strike, destroying the ICBM silos in the Midwest and launching a salvo of 10 megatonne bombs against Washington, New York, and San Antonio. About 70 megatonnes fall on Washington, reducing the city to molten rock and glass, whilst lesser megatonnage falls on New York. Although most of the New York salvo misses, enough damage is done to kill 3 million people and damage the city beyond repair. Russia also detontates a number of 'EMP' bombs over the U.S., destroying most of the electronics and computer systems in the U.S. The President, panicked and bewieldered, launches nuclear counter-strikes of similar force against Russia, and probably also orders the use of biological weapons against the Warsaw Pact (although this is never claimed explicitly). Russia also appears to deploy a biological agent against America, which ends up being simply called the 'Cinncinati Flu' which ironically kills about twice as many people as the nuclear strikes themselves do.

Although the authors vastly over-estimate the likely yield of the Soviet bombs (modern city busters have yields of about 400-750 kilotonnes, deployed in ICBMs with 3-12 warheads apiece) the general effects of the deployed weapons and the aftermath corroborate well with what I know about nuclear weapons and war in general. What is perhaps the most chilling is that a 'limited' nuclear war still effectively ruins and cripples the U.S., reducing it from a premier superpower to a nation with the same might as say, modern Japan or India. The authors are also prescient in their awareness of the damage an 'EMP' burst would do, something of considerable worry in more recent times with nuclear terrorism.

Overall the novel is perhaps the best fictional account of what a nuclear war could do. I would certainly give a copy to anyone who thinks nuclear weaponry is the best means of achieving political aims or of resolving international disputes.

Summary of Warday: And the Journey Onward

Literature & Fiction Books

• Books > Subjects