Book Review
TEOTWAWKI By James Wesley, Rawles

Huntington House Publishing ISBN number,1-56384-155-X

NOTE, this book has now been published as Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse and is avialable at bookstores and through Amazon.com. (The authour asks that you buy it from your local bookstore to create a groundswell of orders.)

When we reviewed it, it was still called TEOTWAWKI, so we have left the title as it was at that time.

TEOTWAWKI, by James Wesley, Rawles, kept me up nights while I was reading it and promises to keep me up a few more. First, it was such a good read, it was difficult to put down and turn off the light. Now that I am done, I sit there in the dark realizing just how far from completed my personal survival preparations are. Now I make lists and brainstorm in the twilight before sleep reaches out for me.

I found TEOTWAWKI eye-opening in some areas -- particularly the political and legal aspects -- and very informative in others. While I do not agree with all the scenarios, I realize the author had to exaggerate some items to make the novel more interesting. All-in-all, I think TEOTWAWKI is a must-read for any survivalist.

Let's face it: I read many survivalist books. I read how-to books and guides on everything from brain-tanning to foraging. I read military field manuals and guides on herbs. I read survival and post-apocalyptic fiction. I visit other survival-related web sites and I read just about every post here on the Survival Talk bulletin board. I learn a great deal from these sources, and I write down the ideas I garner and adjust my survival plans accordingly.

But TEOTWAWKI made me question and adjust my plan more than anything I have read since I got seriously into survival -- a personal paradigm shift that occurred after reading a copy of Cresson H. Kearny's Nuclear War Survival Skills I borrowed from our midwife. If there is anyone you think should consider survivalism a bit more seriously, give them a copy of this book.

Net Beginnings

Originally published on the Internet as a shareware book under the title The Gray Nineties, the book was updated and distributed electronically as Triple Ought. TEOTWAWKI is further expanded and enhanced from the version now on-line. According to Rawles, the following chapters are either new or updated in the print version: 1, 5, 6, 9, 23 - 33.

I have a confession to make: The Gray Nineties was one of the first survival sites to make it into my bookmarks and onto my list of links. (Back before I started Captain Dave's Survival Center, there was Frugal Squirrel, The Gray Nineties, Walton Feed and not much else of any use to the dedicated survivalist. I used to have a link of the week, but I gave up because I quickly ran out of links.) But I never read it. I just could not get into reading a novel on my computer screen, and I didn't want to print it at work or run my personal dot matrix printer that long. So I started the book a few times, and never got too deeply into it. But having a paper copy in my hands, to read in bed, at the kitchen table, or whenever, made a big difference. And from a survival standpoint, you can refer to the hard-copy version when the power is off and the lap top's battery needs recharging.

TEOTWAWKI is available directly from the published for $19 plus $3 shipping, and is well worth it. For a copy of the order form and specifics, visit their web site or write Clearwater Press c/o P.O. Box K, Kooskia, Idaho, 83539.