[TITAN]

This book is a fairly sobering wake-up call to anyone unfamiliar with the ramifications of a properly placed electromagnetic pulse weapon. The west has several enemies that are already capable of carrying out the type of attack that this book covers.

The book is fiction, but was done very realistically and is based on studies done by the DOD.

http://www.onesecondafter.com/

[mlit]

also a scary similar historical event that will some day be repeated

The Great Storm: Solar Tempest of 1859 Revealed - http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_031027.html
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') pair of strong solar storms that hit Earth late last week were squalls compared to the torrent of electrons that rained down in the "perfect space storm" of 1859. And sooner or later, experts warn, the Sun will again conspire again send earthlings a truly destructive bout of space weather.

If it happens anytime soon, we won't know exactly what to expect until it's over, and by then some modern communication systems could be like beachfront houses after a hurricane.

In early September in 1859, telegraph wires suddenly shorted out in the United States and Europe, igniting widespread fires. Colorful aurora, normally visible only in polar regions, were seen as far south as Rome and Hawaii.

The event 144 years ago was three times more powerful than the strongest space storm in modern memory, one that cut power to an entire Canadian province in 1989. A new account of the 1859 event, from research led by Bruce Tsurutani of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, details the most powerful onslaught of solar energy in recorded history.

[Tanada]

There is a thread about this novel in the review section which you can find book-one-second-after-t54257.html <<< over there.

I really liked the writing style of this novel and it fits well with the implications of EMP effects, which scares the bat snot out of me if I think about it too much. Civilization is such a very fragile thing and the vast majority never pause and reflect on how easily it can all come crashing down on us.

[Lore]

I’m just now reading this book. While it portrays an interesting TEOTWAWKI event, most research that I’ve been able to find doesn’t support the extreme effects of such an EMP blast. First off, to what purpose other then terrorism would such a scenario take place? This type of an attack would only invite the worse kind of retaliation from internationally deployed forces and allies on the perpetrator It's unlikly that terrorists would have the ability to mount such a skilled attack.

To be effective, a simultaneous and technically sophisticated launch of at least three to four nuclear missiles from strategic locations off shore would have to be conducted, detonating at an altitude of around 120 miles close to the North American continent. This would just barely cover the U.S., but not all of Canada or Mexico. Also, Not every electronic device will be damaged if an EMP occurs.

As far as the book, I’m finding it to have a bit of a right-wing bias. From it’s forward by Newt Gingrich to the protagonist having in just a few short days moved from college history professor to appointed executioner and then head of the college student militia at his Christian university. Where it’s declared that those attending other liberal colleges could never survive the new way of things. Where as we can deal death and God with equal justice. A quick shot at global warming and a tip of the hat to Ronald Regan as one of the key presidential figures standing besides the likes of Lincoln and Kennedy.

What I do like, is that having lived in Charlotte, and traveled extensively in sales throughout the Black Mountain, Asheville area, I’m pretty familiar with the geography as presented in the book. One thing, its not as defensible as the book would have you think. Also, knowing the people there, there would be far more cars traveling the roads. Heck, pre 1970s autos are just considered beginning to break in for some of those folks.

[pablonite]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TITAN', 'T')he west has several enemies that are already capable of carrying out the type of attack that this book covers.

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pablonite', ' ')The fear mongering of terrorists getting a hold of a nuclear bomb is pretty far down on my priority list. Fear mongering about the people this guy chums around with like his good buddy in the Navy, Captain Bill Sanders, an "expert" in EMP...now that is something to worry about.

If there was ever some kind of massive EMP attack on America you would have to look no further than the US military for those responsible, obviously.