1964 Adult Novel G. P. Putnam's Sons

Farnham's Freehold

Provocative Cold War thought experiment

Narrative Synopsis

Hugh Farnham builds a reinforced fallout shelter beneath his Colorado home. When a direct thermonuclear warhead detonates nearby, the blast throws the shelter into a far-future Earth where civilization has collapsed, and a new post-apocalyptic society has inverted historical American racial hierarchies.

A man who is prepared for disaster is not wishing for it; he is simply refusing to commit suicide by negligence.
Notable Passage

Historical & Editorial Context

One of Heinlein's most controversial works, confronting segregation, nuclear apocalypse, and societal decay.