Julie McDowall

Timely ... McDowall's excellent book is a chilling reminder of the horrific reality of nuclear war

Very good ... A sobering book, but a gripping one

Julie McDowall's thoroughly gripping study ... makes for genuinely startling and sometimes darkly funny reading... [it's] brilliantly chilling and sparkily engaging

Attack Warning Red! is a timely reminder of the mind-blanking horror of nuclear warfare, as it menaces Europe once more

An atomic Dad's Army, McDowall's history of the UK's nuclear civil defence is full of hilarious gems

Simultaneously horrifying, weirdly nostalgic and darkly hilarious

Impossible to believe, just as hard to put down. Urgent. Terrifying

Dan Snow, historian and host of History Hit

Superb ... a lucid, totally compulsive read from beginning to end, chilling as well as profoundly empathetic in tone

Brilliant and unforgettable ... A beautifully writtern horror story and amazing work of research ... Julie McDowall has made the unreadable compulsive and the unthinkable thinkable, but above all this is a book that cherishes humanity in all its absurdity, intelligence, vulnerability, courage and, against all odds, belief in hope and survival

Captivating, chilling, and at times darkly humorous. A fascinating insight into Britain's preparations for surviving Armageddon, and the ghastly reality of what the aftermath of a nuclear war would actually be like

How to prepare for Armageddon? Julie McDowell has written the best exploration yet of how successive British administrations grappled with the challenge of living under the shadow of nuclear war, with depth, compassion and very necessary dark humour

Prof. Mark Galeotti, author of The Weaponisation of Everything

This by turns harrowing and farcical book charts the reality of living under constant threat of nuclear oblivion

Timely ... harrowing ... farcical ... the most surprising aspect of Attack Warning Red!, however, is that, alongside generous helpings of fear and unease, it carries a strong charge of nostalgia

Attack Warning Red! effectively pulls together many strands from this unsettling aspect of British history and weaves them in a way that will alarm and entertain

McDowall's book has the tone of a podcast [...] She leads her audience round bunkers, propaganda films and government records, pointing out the horrifying, the unexpected and the absurd

Grimly funny reading&hellip; this grimly entertaining history of our preparation for mass destruction is both timely and troubling

Fascinating ... a chilling glimpse of an alternative world

How Britain Prepared for Nuclear War

The first book to tell the story of day-to-day life on the nuclear home front - from the host of #1 podcast Atomic Hobo 
 
**A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK and GUARDIAN BEST PAPERBACK FOR APRIL 2024** 
 
'So entertaining' THE TIMES 
'Cracking' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 
 
The atomic bombs of 1945 changed everything. For the next forty years, the mushroom cloud loomed large in public imaginations and fear of the blast&rsquo;s apocalyptic power coloured every aspect of British daily life. 
 
From makeshift shelters and herbal remedies to sirens that offered four-minute escapes, ordinary people were taught how to save themselves in the face of a catastrophe that was not survivable. Meanwhile, bunkers were readied for those officials and experts who would ensure life continued after Armageddon. 
 
At once chilling and darkly funny, this is the story of how Britain braced for nuclear conflict &ndash; and of how, so long as nuclear weapons exist, the threat of total annihilation will always be with us. 
 
'Thrilling and profoundly important' JULIET NICOLSON 
'Simultaneously horrifying, weirdly nostalgic and darkly hilarious' MARK HADDON

Julie McDowall

Praise for Attack Warning Red!

Timely ... McDowall's excellent book is a chilling reminder of the horrific reality of nuclear war

Cracking

So entertaining

Timely ... McDowall's excellent book is a chilling reminder of the horrific reality of nuclear war

Cracking

So entertaining

Timely ... McDowall's excellent book is a chilling reminder of the horrific reality of nuclear war

Cracking

So entertaining

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