by William Forstchen
Bill Forstchen
is a terrific author and someone I happen to know. He has written the New
York Times bestseller One Second After and We Look Like Men of
War, among numerous other books in diverse subjects ranging from history to
science fiction. He has co-authored several books with Newt Gingrich, including
Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War, Pearl Harbor, Days of
Infamy, To Try Men’s Souls and Valley Forge. Bill holds a
Ph.D. in History from Purdue University, with specializations in military
history and the history of technology. It was during his time at Purdue that I got
to know him. At that time he was an avid Civil War reenactor. He is currently a
Faculty Fellow and Professor of History at Montreat College, near Asheville,
North Carolina. He resides near Asheville with his daughter Meghan.
One Second After is (2009) fiction which serves as a horrible
warning of what could be in our country’s future. It was cited on the floor of
Congress as a book all Americans should read, a book discussed in the corridors
of the Pentagon as a truly realistic look at the dangers of EMPs. An EMP
(ElectroMagnetic Pulse) is a weapon with the power to destroy the entire United
States in a single act of terrorism -- in a single second. An EMP is not science
fiction; it's been known about for decades. The Sun emits EMPs in solar flares,
which have caused power blackouts. An EMP attack involves detonating nuclear
bombs high up in the atmosphere. With an EMP attack there is no radioactive
fallout, nor bombed-out cities. But a successful EMP attack would knock out our entire electric grid and fry all of our electronic devices. An
EMP attack would turn out the lights across the U.S.
One Second After
centers on Black Mountain, North Carolina, and what happens following the EMP.
The focus shifts quickly to how the community reacts. There are hundreds of
stranded motorists whose cars and trucks have simply rolled to a halt (they
have computers now, remember). There is an urgent concern about food, no
refrigerators or freezers are running, and no trucks are bringing in fresh
supplies every day. There are no AM/FM radio broadcasts, no television, no
Internet, and thus, no communication with anyone outside the town.
Without modern sanitation and provisions, diseases surge and
Black Mountain soon has run out of antibiotics. An even larger problem is the
community’s social order collapses. Suddenly, skills that haven't been needed
in several generations have become vital. Leadership roles must be established
in order to keep a balance between the multiple necessities of rationing scant
resources, maintaining law and order in addition to individual freedom, as well
as personal responsibility and moral conduct in the midst of acutely
deteriorating physical and social conditions. Not an easy task.
I found the book thoroughly thought provoking and one I can’t
forget. I don’t want to reveal too much or it will be a spoiler alert list!
However, if you like reading about human behavior you will enjoy this book. If
you are concerned about what is happening in the world today you will find this
book interesting.
A sequel was just released and I will soon be reading it: One Year
After. The story in One Year
After revisits Black Mountain one year after the EMP in One Second After.
