Apocalyptic Books

In an attempt to provide a relatively comprehensive apocalyptic book list , I have scoured the internet and come up with what I believe to be a substantial list of books divided into the following categories: Nuclear War, Zombies, Plague, Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), Asteroids/Comets and Economic Collapse. Please understand that I use the term “apocalyptic” to cover a wide variety of fiction that includes post-apocalyptic and many other sub genres. You may or may not agree that all of these books belong lumped into the apocalyptic category and that is fine. My intent is not to split hairs with semantics but to provide a resource for fans of “end of the world as we know it” fiction. Keep in mind that this list is a work in progress and I will add new books as I find them. Feel free to leave a comment if you have a book that you would like added to the apocalyptic book list. Thanks and enjoy!

Nuclear War

Many of these books were written during the height of the cold war and as such have some dated subject matter. In case you weren’t alive during this time, people around the world lived with the possibility of widespread, instantaneous nuclear destruction by fire, blast wave and radiation. It’s no surprise that some of this preoccupation with nuclear destruction was expressed in the fiction of the time.

Zombies

For some reason, which is clearly beyond the scope of this website, the zombie fiction genre has really taken off in the last 20 years. Possibly fueled by some great remakes of zombie movies like Dawn of the Dead and some awesome originals like 28 Days Later and Zombieland. Whatever the reason for the zombie insurgence, we now have enough zombie apocalypse entertainment to fill the rest of our days.

Plague/Pandemic 

 

EMP

Asteroids/Comets

Economic Collapse

2 thoughts on “Apocalyptic Books”

  1. What a great resource! Here are a few suggestions of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic gems I’ve read recently:

    The MaddAddam Trilogy by Margaret Atwood (Oryx and Crake, Year of the Flood, MaddAddam) — Pandemic/Plague
    Sand by Hugh Howie — Nuclear War
    Ashwood by Cynthia Kraak — Economic Collapse

    And if you’re feeling generous, you could even add my own book, Live from the Apocalypse, to the Zombie subsection. Thanks and keep up the good work!

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