Warday and the Journey Onward

WarDay was an novel written by Whitley Strieber and a co-author. Whitley worked on the novel parts whilst his co-writer was incharge of the technical data and research of nucler warfare and fallout data. The books is very well researched and a captivating read. The story follows two men on their travels across the United States and document the after effects of a limited exchange of nuclear tipped missles and the change it has on the people. The novel begins as an ordinary day for Whitley Strieber. There has been rumors of a oncoming conflict but nothing to be concerned about. Out of the blue, several incoming ICBMs strike New York City and the surrounding areas. Life in the United States will never be the same again. One of the best novels wriiten about this subject. Highly Recommended.

I was 12 when I first heard about this book and didn't read it until I was 19. It wasn't until I reread it three years later, however, that this book had such an impact of me. Like many readers, I still find myself rereading it today. Its as if the authors had stepped into an alternate universe, it is so creepy adn realistic. I really wonder if that so-called-nutball Streiber had accessed some alternate universe because the details were so real. I had my gripes with the book; California I felt, was overfocused on, while such places as the North Central States like Minnesota, Michigan, and the Deep South where I live are barely given any mention at all. But other than that, I think the book is amazingly engrossing. And as for the reviewer who scoffs at the idea of the United States disintergrating after such an attack, he is a typical example of blind, nationlistic lack of rational. America is a large, sectionalized, divided country, with a populace that takes our institutions and creature comforts for granted, even in the best of times. Take away a few major cities, our economy, and our luxury items, throw in chaos, radiation, and pandemics, and I think the scenario presented was extremely accurate, which is why I believe this book is still an important read 20 years later

Two journalists, childhood friends both in real life and in the book, journey across an America that has been partly but not totally devastated by a limited nuclear attack. Some regions are uninhabitable, most have reverted to a plague-ridden substistence economy, and a few--like California--are thriving. But the concept of American nationhood has broken down: California and other "haves" have erected police states with strict barriers that keep the "have-nots" off their territory. The Mexican-Americans and native Americans in the southwestern states have formed their own nation that rejects the vestiges of the United States, while the white governor of Texas will not recognize the secession and is prepared to resist it, by force if necessary. The Federal government still exists: it has moved to Los Angeles, and operates out of the bottom floors of a building that it shares with a Californian human-services agency, so whether you can rely on the Bill of Rights depends on which floor you are on. But the political stories are not the book's real strength, which is the human interest with which the authors portray the everyday lives of everyday citizens in a changed world.

I have read this book dozens of times. I buy copies at the used book store and give them away to people! Post WWIII America, as seen by two travelling journalists, although still the United States, is a changed, humbled, quiet place. Much of the population has been killed, but America presses on, in many directions. I recommend this book to any and all, regardless of your political stripe. You will not put it down until you are finished reading it.