Scribner Book Company Bunker: Building for the End Times

Part deconstruction, part existential philosophy, part exploration, part journalism, all deftly woven into a cohesive analysis and entertaining cultural explorative narrative, Garrett takes you inside the prepper world and explores the genre inside and out. He explores the sociological and philosophical backdrops of the prepping phenomenon, framing the narrative using references to Kierkegaard, Foucault, and others. The exploration reveals the interconnectedness of prepping with government and state power (and the failures there of). I think he misses a great opportunity to explore the underlying neo feudalist backdrop against which this prepper movement exists in western countries, i.e. hyper capitalism, neo liberalism, statism, etc. and their effects on society, vis a vis the underlying wealth inequality and societal imbalances, the widespread winner take all dog eat dog cultural landscape, which leaves in it's wake an increase in societal narcissistic (and psychopathic) epidemics. These underlying problems have been explicitly delineated by Richard Wolff, Anand Giridharadas, Piketty, Twenge and Campbell, and Zizek. That is to say the many self destructive and innate incongruities of capitalism which have been propagandized away as Marxist rhetoric, and the failure of the masses to see behind the capitalist propaganda and ideology. Against such dire political and economic landscapes, is it any wonder that entire segments of western society become despondent and seek real community and connection with other like-minded folks? Is it any surprise that those same communities sometimes seek to make the state irrelevant through self sufficiency, and why the state reacts violently against these movements? Neverthess the book is unique and distinct in every regard, presenting the subject in a compelling way, with clear and concise writing, the author's prose and breadth is truly appreciated. Definitely unique, it earns a spot as both a reference, and a compelling cultural analysis, up there at the top of my collection.

An exhaustive (not exhausting!) study of bunkers and bunker building for survival. Not of course the bunkers of World War II but bunkers specifically intended to be used to survive an apocalypse such as Nuclear War, Pandemic etc. Extremely readable - I read through it in about 5 days - which is a bit of a record for the adult me! Enjoyable and well constructed and extraordinarily well researched. You get the feeling that Bradley has become a sort of junior "prepper" by the end of it! Just one bone I have to pick and therefore just the one criticism - at page 18 in the Introduction he states that "All preppers....were driven by.....a desire to create secretive, defensive and dread resistant spaces that are ultimately dread-resistant". In other words he maintains that all preppers are seeking a refuge like a bunker. In fact this is not true. Many preppers (including myself) have no desire whatsoever to be holed up in a bunker. We would rather be out and about in the country, isolating from danger and from potentially infected persons (PIPS). In the event of a Nuclear War and a blanket of radiation - then we are SNAFU (strangely not referred to in the Acronym Glossary!) Good luck with the book, Bradley - it deserves a wide readership - even if you didn't refer to my own book - Pandemic Survival Preppers Mash-up. Cheers and when SHTF have a long cold beer!

First and foremost... I only read non-fiction books and I really did not see that I would enjoy this book. I actually thought it was more how folks design these bunkers, but I love it! The book consumed me and I read it very quickly. I had a lot of fears about this author tossing in a lot so his politics into this book, but I was pleasantly surprised only slight jabs at the right and only at the current administration. The book is very recent and timely including the effects of COVID-19 on preparedness. It was great to learn so much about this trend and even things I thought I knew about that I still learned a lot about. The business behind prepping, the tools, the bunkers for sale business (AKA Dread Merchants lol). Incredibly well written and researched. The notes section where stories, sources and studies are reference in the back is pretty much an encyclopedia on preparedness and the history of. If you are a prepper, preparedness mind set, considering a bunker, or just want to know about subcultures that are becoming mainstream, this is a great book!

Havent read this yet, but Bradley wrote such an intensly interesting book in 'Explore Everything' , i know I will be taken to the four corners of the planet on an adventure deep into the chasms of our minds

Really great stories about historical and current bunkers and underground shelters all around the world and about people that build them, told through transformative journey of author - colledge proffessor