| Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse | |
|---|---|
Cover of the most recent edition of Patriots |
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| Author(s) | James Wesley Rawles |
| Original title | Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Ulysses Press |
| Publication date | 2009 |
| Media type | Print (Trade paperback) |
| Pages | 400 |
| ISBN | 978-1569755990 |
| OCLC Number | 251196581 |
| Followed by | Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse |
Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse is a survivalist novel[1] written by James Wesley Rawles, first distributed as shareware in 1995 and first published in paperback in 1998.[2] It was most recently updated and re-published in 2009.[2] In one week of April 2009, shortly after its release, it was ranked #6 in Amazon.com's overall book sales rankings. This was attributed by one journal to the book's appeal to "a small but vociferous group of people concerned with survivalism".[3]
Set in the near future amidst hyperinflation[4] and a catastrophic global economic collapse[5], Patriots tells the story of a group of survivalists that flee riots and chaos in metropolitan Chicago to a survivalist retreat that they have prepared near Bovill, Idaho.[2]
Contents |
The novel is based on a 19-chapter draft that Rawles wrote in 1990, and first distributed as shareware[6], under the title The Gray Nineties.[7] It was later expanded to 27 chapters and retitled Triple Ought[8], and then 33 chapters, under the title TEOTWAWKI: The End of the World as We Know It.[9][10] In 1997, the rights to the novel were purchased by Huntington House Publishers[11], a small Christian publishing firm[12] in Lafayette, Louisiana. They abridged the book to 31 chapters and re-titled it Patriots; Surviving the Coming Collapse.[13] This was the publisher's best-selling title from November 1998 to January 2005.[10] In early 2005, Huntington House went out of business, and the copyright reverted to the author.[14] In November 2006, responding to pent-up market demand, Rawles self-published a restored 33 chapter edition of the novel, through XLibris, a print-on-demand publisher.[15] Patriots was the best-selling title for XLibris from late 2006 to early 2009.[10] In late 2008, the rights to the novel were purchased by Ulysses Press, Berkeley, California.[16] After updating the novel and adding both a glossary and an index[17], in April 2009 Ulysses Press released the 33 chapter edition under the new title Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse.[2]
One reviewer called the novel a "combination military thriller and how-to survivalist guide."[18]
The publisher's synopsis from Huntington House described the novel as "distinctly pro-Christian, pro-preparedness, pro-gun ownership, and anti-racist." [19]
Barnes & Noble describes the book: "Part novel, part survivalist-handbook, Patriots tells of a small group of friends facing every American's worst nightmare—the total collapse of society. The stock market plummets and hyperinflation cripples commerce and then a seemingly isolated financial crisis passes the tipping point when an unprepared government fails to act. Practically overnight, the fragile institutions of democracy fall apart and every American is forced to survive on their own. Evading mobs of desperate, out-of-control citizens who have turned Chicago into a wasteland of looting and mayhem, this novel's protagonists make their way to a shared secure ranch in the wilds of northern Idaho. Here the survival-driven group fends off vicious attacks from the outside and eventually assists in restoring order to the country. The compelling, fast-paced action-adventure novel has readers jotting notes and referencing the book's impressive index for informative survivalist tips on everything from setting up a secure shelter to treating traumatic flesh wounds."[20]
The story starts by describing the growing financial crisis from the eyes of an accountant named Todd Gray. As hyperinflation begins and a stock market crash debilitates the country, full-scale rioting ensues across the country. Supermarkets are cleaned out in days, gas runs low, and gridlock traffic blocks the freeways. Todd and his wife Mary Gray (a nurse) live at a survivalist retreat in northern Idaho. They are joined by the other retreat group members, with the exception of their friends the Laytons, within several days. With large stockpiles of food, weapons, and ammunition, they withstand several encounters with looters and in one case, cannibals. The group is joined by Doug Carlton, an ROTC cadet, and the Porter family.
Over a year after the collapse, Todd's group (now called the Northwest Militia) allies with another group in the region called the Templars to provide security for their area. In a joint action, the allies wipe out a marauding biker gang that has been pillaging local towns. After this incident, the area grows safer, and soon society knits itself back together. When an official from the Provisional United States Government lands in Moscow, Idaho, the locals are horrified to learn that the new government is little more than a group of self-appointed cronies with the remnants of the military by their side, and backed by a coalition from Europe. Members of the Gray's militia rescue, the Laytons, who are trapped in Utah. They are brought back to the retreat, but one of the friendly militiamen is killed in the process.
As the months go on, the Provisional Government, with the support of a massive UN-led European Peacekeeping Force conquers most of the United States. However, the "Peacekeepers" and "Government Officials" are little more than bloodthirsty tyrants, who slaughter civilians and plunder the countryside with the mandate of the Provisional Government. When the Templars have their retreat mortared by the UN army, the Northwest Militia turns into a guerilla band. The resistance movement quickly grows, and soon the UN oppressors are hard pressed to hold their gains. After months of bloody combat, UN resistance collapses across the country, and a Constitutional United States is restored, albeit in a much smaller and more efficient form.
Much of the novel takes place in the Intermountain west, specifically in the Palouse Hills region, in and around Moscow, Idaho.[21]
From its first inception, the book gained a cult following among the survivalist community[22][23][24][25]. With the release of the 2009 edition, the book has gained a popular following among a broader audience. Rawles himself speculates the ongoing financial crisis accounts for the book's popularity among a wider readership traditionally not interested in survivalist themes[26].
Writing for The Daily Beast, book critic Sara Nelson, in an interview with Rawles titled "The Most Dangerous Novel in America?", described the novel as a "bestselling manifesto..." "the only thing fans... seem to squabble over is whether the story... should be called a novel or a survival guide. She quotes Rawles himself as saying "I don’t pretend it’s a literary masterpiece".[26]
Likewise, World Net Daily reviewed an earlier printing in 2006, finding worthwhile the non-fiction information about survivalist techniques but the fiction elements "[not] exactly subtle".[27]
Libertarian columnist Claire Wolfe, reviewing an earlier edition, also highlighted "the survival-and-military-tactics manual that resides within this novel. The fictional scenes are, as often as not, the vehicle for introducing information about food storage, improvised weapons, emergency surgery, security systems, barter goods, radio communications, home birth and other aspects of real-life survival situations."[27]
Reviewer Jerry Erwin, who wrote about the book in the course of another review, described Patriots as "an instruction manual, dressed as fiction, for legal purposes. This book is considered the bible of modern survivalism, and is actually used as reference material.... The character descriptions in Patriots are somewhat lacking. The reader has to tolerate some fundamentalist Christianity. Regardless, the average survivalism / preparedness-minded individual will be absolutely glued to this book for its information... It is also ominously predictive: the collapse in his novel is created by a global credit crisis, and a subsequent collapse of the US Dollar."[28]
In early April 2009, shortly after its release, it was ranked #6 in Amazon.com's overall book sales rankings but fell to #33 a week later.[3] By the end of the month it had fallen to #98.[29] The book's popularity caught librarians unprepared because the book was considered a niche title, and had not been reviewed by the major book review publications. According to Library Journal, the topic struck a chord with "a small but vociferous group of people concerned with survivalism" who share a sense of societal anxiety associated with the economic recession. The journal went on to say that Patriots was "reportedly originally conceived as a nonfiction guide. According to a number of Amazon.com reviewers, the novel will not win any literary prizes; its strength lies in its practical reassurances, focus on guns, and Christian ideology." Librarians then scrambled to purchase copies of the book to meet the unanticipated demand.[3]
Patriots was followed by the New York Times bestseller Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse in October 2011. A second sequel novel, titled Founders, is scheduled for release in November, 2012.
In April 2009, Rawles announced that he had signed a contract with the Atria and Pocket Books Divisions of Simon & Schuster to write two sequels to Patriots, and he described the project: "Unlike traditional sequels, the storylines of these novels will be contemporaneous with the economic collapse and invasion described in the first novel. There will be some overlap of characters, but most of the action will take place in different locales. My goal is to use these two books to write about a lot of different tactics, techniques, and technologies for survival." Release of the two sequels is scheduled for 2010 and 2011.[30]