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    Mr. Adam: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Mr. Adam: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Mr. Adam: A Novel
    Ebook255 pages4 hours

    Mr. Adam: A Novel

    By Pat Frank

    3/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Originally published at the dawn of the Atomic Age, Mr. Adam is a riveting, chilling novel from the author of the post-apocalyptic classic Alas Babylon, revealing the dangers of nuclear power—and the far greater danger of government bureaucracy.

    A young newspaperman accidentally turns up the biggest story of his career: On a certain date in the not-too-distant future, there are no reservations in the maternity wards of any hospitals in New York. When the journalist’s AP office checks other cities, he discovers that this alarming state of affairs is not just in the United States, but in the entire world. A few months earlier, an accidental explosion in an atomic plant in Mississippi released an unknown form of radiation that turned the Earth’s men sterile—with one notable exception.

    Mr. Homer Adam, who was at the bottom of a lead mine in Colorado at the moment of the explosion, is the only man unaffected by the atomic rays. Naturally, he is in great demand, and sadly, it’s up to the government to decide what to do with him.

    One of literature’s first responses to the atomic bomb, Mr. Adam is "an artifact of classic science fiction—an equally biting satire and ominous warning to society—that will resonate deeply with readers today as it did when it was first published in 1946." (FantastyLiterature.com)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateFeb 23, 2016
    ISBN9780062421777
    Unavailable
    Mr. Adam: A Novel
    Author

    Pat Frank

    Pat Frank (1908–1964) is the author of the classic postapocalyptic novel Alas, Babylon, as well as the Cold War thriller Forbidden Area. Before becoming an author, Frank worked as a journalist and also as a propagandist for the government. He is one of the first and most influential science fiction writers to deal with the consequences of atomic warfare.

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    • 3/5
      I don't know if this was written to be a comedy or not but this book is funny. The entire male population of the world is made sterile due to a major nuclear accident in Mississippi except one. Mr. Adam. The infighting of the various parts of the goverment (Milartary, science, Senate,foreign affairs etc)is hilarious. After each departmentwins and gets Mr. Adam the same peaple end up running the committees. A fast easy read and a pure joy.
    • 3/5
      Apocalyptic novels involving nuclear disaster are commonplace today, but in 1946 they were a new idea, and one of the pioneers of this new subgenre was Pat Frank, a newspaperman turned novelist. His most significant novel was “Alas. Babylon,” about the impact of a nuclear war on one Florida town. But in 1946, just a year after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Frank wrote “Mr. Adam” about what happens after an accidental nuclear explosion in Mississippi.“Mr. Adam” is actually a comic novel, and not a particularly good one. Yet it sold a lot of copies and caused concern among many of its readers, including Eleanor Roosevelt, who wrote a review.It seems that after that Mississippi disaster, every man in the world becomes sterile. Every man, that is, except Homer Adam, an aw shucks kind of guy who happens to be at the bottom of a lead mine when the explosion occurs. When his wife has a baby, it becomes international news. Among women, Homer Adam suddenly becomes the most desirable man in the world. Can an Adam once again populate the world?This may sound like every man's erotic fantasy, but there is virtually no sex in “Mr. Adam.” In Frank's hands it becomes a comedy about government bureaucracy. The White House, Congress, the military, various government agencies, even the United Nations -- everyone, it seems, gets involved in how to spread Adam's seed to the women of the world through artificial insemination. But Mr. Adam has other ideas, deciding he's a man, not a government resource. The story is narrated by a newspaper reporter who becomes Adam's friend and whose wife, Marge, wants a baby.The plot may have comic potential, but it remains largely unrealized. Give Frank credit, however, for realizing the potential of nuclear apocalyptic novels.