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    A Study Guide for Pat Frank's Alas
    A Study Guide for Pat Frank's Alas
    A Study Guide for Pat Frank's Alas
    Ebook39 pages29 minutes

    A Study Guide for Pat Frank's Alas

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Pat Frank's "Alas," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students.This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateAug 14, 2015
    ISBN9781535817776
    A Study Guide for Pat Frank's Alas

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      Book preview

      A Study Guide for Pat Frank's Alas - Gale

      09

      Alas, Babylon

      Pat Frank

      1959

      Introduction

      Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon, written almost fifty years ago, is considered a classic nuclear holocaust story. The novel is set in the 1950s during the cold war between the United States and the U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Soviet Union, which consisted of the country now known as Russia and numerous smaller, neighboring countries). In writing the novel, Frank used his knowledge of war and the potential consequences of a nuclear fallout, which he gained from years of working as a war correspondent and also as a special consultant on issues of war for President Franklin Roosevelt. The story remains relevant today, as the threat of nuclear devastation of the world continues to be a possibility.

      At the novel's outset, Randy Bragg has recently failed to win the state senate election in the small town of Fort Repose, Florida, because he is considered too liberal. Randy is nice to the black people in town, and the majority of the white town folk are worried about the recent talk of civil rights. However, when the bombs start falling and scattering radioactivity and thugs begin using force to take whatever they want, Randy is the only person in town who is willing to reinstate order.

      Alas, Babylon is a story of death and the horrors of living through a disaster worse than any the United States has ever faced. Yet it is also a story of love and compassion. Over the course of the novel, Frank strips his characters down to the foundation of basic humanity. Money loses its worth. Communications to distant places are all but completely cut off. And the old social systems are obliterated. Factors like social status, age, and skin color no longer hold the same distinctions that they once did. Because of the disaster, people are forced to come together and face the challenge of survival.

      Author Biography

      Pat Frank is the pen name of Harry Hart Frank, who was born on May 5, 1908, in Chicago. He was the son of Harry Hart Frank, Sr., and Doris Cohen Frank. Frank attended the University of Florida for two years but dropped out to become a journalist. His first job as a reporter was for the Jacksonville, Florida Journal.

      In 1929, Frank moved to New York so that he could work for the New York Journal. Next he moved to Washington, D.C., where

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