To the Editor:
The movie industry, television and authors all understand the horror and potential reality of a post-nuclear world. Each year there are new versions of the events that lead to the launching of missiles and then they show us what the world and society looks like afterwards.
There is no shortage of creativity in terms of why or who starts the final war, just a consensus that one will happen and society as we know it may end or take many, many generations to recover.
April 9, 2026
Subscribe to keep reading
This story is from our archive. Get your SandPaper Annual Pass for access to our digital archive, plus everything else a pass includes. Details below.
Annual Pass — $18 Details
365-day access to:
- The complete SandPaper digital archive (stories date back to 2012).
- Full photo galleries from our photographers.
- The entire catalog of SandPaper games, puzzles and quizzes.
How it works
- Enter your email below and click to pay the one-time $18. Card details are entered on Stripe’s secure page.
- You’re in straight away — no password to create, and nothing to set up or manage.
- You stay signed in. If you’re ever signed out, or you read on a new phone or computer, we’ll email you a code to get you back in.
- Never auto-renews. Your pass is good for one year. We will email you when it expires so you can renew if you’d like.
See our site policies for more information.
Already a subscriber? We’ll email a code to get you back in.
















