I first read Warday back in the mid 1980s. I found it scary then, and find it so now. I am grateful that (at least so far) we have managed as a species to dodge this particular bullet I pray our luck continues.
I still have my hardcover copy of Warday. It was published in 1984, and it was about the five years or so following a “limited” nuclear exchange in 1988 between the United States and the USSR. Five years after the attack, the authors portray themselves travelling across what had been the United States to write a book about what the country was like now. It’s in the form of their narrative, first person interviews, succinct government reports and declassified military documents. It pulls itself together very well, and on the whole it is terrifying. I could easily see something like this happening, and the consequences are well within the range of the possible. This not something we must ever allow to actually happen.
I’ve seen a lot of comments that the book is dated. On a superficial level, I suppose that’s true. It is also incredibly moving.
The Audible narration by Kevin Pierce is just amazing. I can see the work that he put into doing it. I had wondered how some of the statistical reports that were in the print version would translate into an audiobook. Well, Kevin Pierce pulls it off. I followed much of his narration along with the print version, and where appropriate he reads only the most germane of the statistics. He does not lose the narrative, and the listener loses nothing in the Audible version. For what it’s worth, Kevin Pierce’s voice is to me somewhat reminiscent of Tom Hanks. It’s an excellent voice for this material.