There are many “survival” themed books both in and out of print. James Wesley, Rawles’ Patriots: A Novel of Survival in The Coming Collapse is by far one of the best in this genre. The story has gone through several iterations, starting in an online format titled The Gray Nineties. The current book, available at both your local bookstores as well as Amazon through our link below, is the latest update to the original story line. Bottom line - this is highly recommended reading.
The story follows a group of friends who while in college start the nucleus of a survival group. This is not a book on how to grow your own food, how to select a piece of land in an appropriate survival location, how to build your own fortifications to strengthen your house, how to develop an early warning sentry system for your property, how to perform small unit tactical movements, how to select equipment for and outfit a survival group, or how to do countless other survival-related tasks. This is a novel which just happens to serve as an “how to” for all the above, and much more.
The story begins with economic collapse (a scenario we think is the most likely cause of any future anarchy and chaos). At this time the group had been preparing for numerous survival scenarios for a lengthy period of time. When the stock market collapses and hyperinflation kicks in, the group comes together in a prepared location in the mountains of Idaho. The story progresses from an everyday normal life to the complete disintegration of our society. While this is transpiring, the story follows the characters through all of the situations the they have to deal with; traveling to the retreat, fortifying the retreat, growing food, developing and manning watch schedules, repelling aggressors, coordinating with locals, etc…
With the latest release, there are some editing errors that will be rather obvious. However if you read the book with the mindset of reading for increasing your knowledge of survival preparedness instead of escaping into a wonderful world of fiction in order to escape your real world, then you won’t be able to put the book down. We recommend reading with a yellow legal pad and a couple pens and highlighters nearby; this will be one of those books with all kinds of notes in the margins.
I have personally purchased close to 20 copies of this book over the years and given them away to friends and family. Some have laughed at me, some never read it, but there have been a couple individuals who have read this book and completely changed their outlook on living and what is important to them; to the point of relocating their families out of large cities and bringing their extended families and in-laws with them.
Wherever you are on the preparedness path, you will learn something new from this book.
Publisher: Ulysses Press, (April 7, 2009); ISBN-10: 156975599X;
ISBN-13: 978-156975599
