The Final Day

In the 1980s, I was employed by an aerospace company that won a contract to study the “hardening” of military hardware and facilities against the effects of an electromagnetic pulse weapon. Many of us considered and debated the effects of such a weapon on the infrastructure of the United States, primarily its aging and decrepit electrical power distribution system euphemistically called a “grid.” We set about parametrically estimating the effects on the populace, a single weapon that could reduce our electrical, water, fuel, natural gas distribution and transportation systems to useless rubble with the detonation of a single nuclear weapon. The results? Ninety-four to ninety-nine percent of our population would die due to dehydration, violence, disease, starvation, and hypothermia in the first 12 months. Refining our ground rules and methods of estimation revealed that what the U.S. would almost certainly experience would be much worse than what appears in this series of books, and most of the population would be wiped out in 8 months — less, if the attack was mounted in mid-to-late summer. That such results could be achieved with employment of a single nuclear weapon against this country makes its existence all the more an efficient means of removing this republic literally from the face of the Earth, and guarantees that some small nation or political group would build it. It is a certainty… These studies were sent to our state’s members of Congress with no results. Not achieving even a casual interest, the wide range of studies were sent to almost all members of Congress — with little real results. That such a popular series of books has generated no interest in Congress — and the vague promise by a sitting President that he would authorize a study about defending against such an attack — is both saddening and disappointing. When all is said and done by politicians, everything is said and nothing done. The results of deploying an EMP weapon makes its creation and use a certainty. The results of this attack are far worse than you read in this series of books, and to a greater degree of permanence.

Incredible story telling and jaw-droppingly realistic expectations of the potential experience!!

Truly the most proud series I have ever read. A terrifying semblance of our current state of affairs and the silent threat which could stand to be our future.

I had trouble pushing through this book until the last few hundred pages when things picked back up again.

From the moment I opened the book, I got stock, I was only able to release its grip from my soul after the last page was read .

Too many canned speeches between characters and much less exploration of the consequences of the actions of the primary geopolitical players. Seemed like a toss-off from the prior two novels just to wrap it up.

A must read. Never give up! Freedom regardless of sacrifice.

I have loved all the books. I’m so invested in the characters that I feel what they feel. Awesome!

This book should be required reading in high school, or college. We just might be able to bring this United States back from the brink once more. Please God just once more.

I’ve never been much of a reader in my entire life. A friend told me about “One Second After”, so I gave it a shot. I read that entire book in about 3 nights after bedtime. Then I bought “One Year After”. The only way I would stop reading was to fall asleep. I finished that one in about a week. Immediately, I bought this book and couldn’t stop reading all three books. I truly felt like I was going through everything that the characters were going through all the way until the end. In my own personal opinion, there will never be a series of books that tops this one.