Plot summary
''This Is the Way the World Ends'' is a novel in which a nuclear apocalypse results from a megaton strike. The plot is driven by "The Unadmitted," a ghostly race of potential humans who never got to be born, due to nuclear holocaust. Determined to use their earthly tenures wisely, the unadmitted put the surviving architects of Armageddon—including the novel's everyman protagonist—on trial under the Nuremberg precedent.Reception
Dave Langford reviewed ''This Is the Way the World Ends'' for '' White Dwarf'' #88, and stated that "This is a harrowingly satirical book, whose main flaw lies in its treatment of the USSR. World War III, it turns out, started by accident: but only Americans are prosecuted by the unborn, the evil Russkies being prejudged as insane and unworthy of trial. This strikes me as an insecure foundation for a scathing attack on the arms race."Awards and nominations
References
1986 American novels 1986 science fiction novels American post-apocalyptic novels Henry Holt and Company books {{1980s-sf-novel-stub