EMP Attack Scenario Explored in One Second After
February 1 2010

For whatever reason, nuclear explosions and fact-based post-apocalyptic tales have always intrigued me. Perhaps it was the WWII stories my grandfather told me as a child or the fears my parents told me they shared when the Cold War was at its peak. Wherever the fascination came from, it still intrigues me to this day.

So when I came across the book, One Second After, in a local bookstore over the holidays, I figured I'd give it a shot.

The author, William R. Forstchen, examines what would happen if the US were to be attacked and disabled by way of EMP (electro magnetic pulse). The story is told through the experiences of a college professor (with a military background) who describes the situations faced by his small town neighbors as the effects of the attack play out. The premise of the story focuses on how several nuclear devices, detonated in the atmosphere above the US, would disable almost every electrical device in the country. All computer-controlled mechanisms are lost to the attack, effectively disabling vehicles, aircraft, generators, phones, radios and more. The horrors that face hospitals, healthcare facilities, law enforcement and government are overwhelming in the book and provide a sobering reality at just how fragile our system is in the face of a catastrophic event.

One Second After is available now on Amazon