He terrifyingly describes the initial outbreak of “Project Blue” and the military’s failure to contain it.

The Stand is another post-apocalyptic tale that stems from a deadly virus, but King’s development of it is singular. Stephen King’s novel The Stand was an ambitious play by an author who, up until that point, had largely written supernatural horror. Yet the human questions and responses that arise from the utter inescapability of death are, in many ways, even more compelling. While many post-apocalyptic books deal in desperate survival, this is certainly not the approach Nevil Shute takes with On the Beach. (One of the more chilling details of the novel is that Australian government “mercifully” provides its citizens with free suicide pills and injections.)

Everyone has a different coping mechanism: some employ denial, others pure ignorance, while others take practical steps to prepare. This book takes on an unusually wide scope for the genre, as a decent number of people are still alive, but must come to terms with their imminent deaths. Eliot war poem, the 'beach' in question lies Melbourne, Australia, one of the last habitable places on Earth - though even the people there will soon die of radiation poisoning. On The Beach is the first novel on this list that actually deals with nuclear fallout: an all-too-real concern for many in the wake of WWII. They form a new society of sorts, but without electricity or other modern advantages, they must revert to a semi-primitive lifestyle: hunting and gathering for food and eschewing literacy in favor of survival skills.Īs a result, Earth Abides is a frightening yet fascinating glimpse into a world without many resources, and a grippingly realistic portrayal of how society would adapt following such a destructive event. A young grad student, the wonderfully named Isherwood Williams, has managed to survive in the mountains - but after he emerges from his “temporary” sabbatical, he finds civilization entirely collapsed.Īfter a mostly fruitless cross-country road trip searching for fellow human life, Ish agrees to have children with another survivor, Emma.

Stewart’s novel Earth Abides, which begins with a rampant disease killing off most people in America. One of the gems of this “doomsday renaissance” was George R. The 1940s were an extremely popular time for dystopian and post-apocalyptic books, after World War II caused people to start thinking about widespread destruction and societal downfall.

Doomsday book novel