A favorite book in the CONELRAD editorial offices, "Red Scared!" is an expansion (both verbally and graphically) of Michael Barson's earlier "souvenir" of the Cold War, "BETTER DEAD THAN RED" (1992, Hyperion). In addition to providing a wonderfully humorous pop cultural history of the conflict of our time, the book also contains hundreds of fabulous color photographs from the era. Stunning reproductions of lobby cards, pamphlets, lurid paperback book covers are all presented here for your post-USSR reading pleasure. Essential.

Edward Zuckerman is one of two investigative journalists (the other being Ted Gup) who literally "own" the field of Continuity of Government (COG) research. Zuckerman's book is a goldmine of information for anyone interested in the strange world of government (and business) contingency plans. Written in a sardonic style, the book offers wonderful descriptions of Mount Weather; the President's Looking Glass plane; the U.S. Postal Service's nuclear war relocation plans and many other formerly top secret issues.

While a bit on the dry side, this book offers a thoughtfully written analysis of how the Bomb insinuated itself into every facet of American life from 1945 onwards. One look at the source section of "Strangelove" and the reader knows Ms. Hendriksen, an academic, has done a prodigious amount of research in assembling this tome.

First published in the U.K., this guide is an Atomic Film fan's dream come true. "Apocalyse Movies" is a thorough round-up of every worthwhile end-of-the-world epic ever made. Essential.

Ms. McEnaney's book offers a concise history of Cold War-era Civil Defense and how its policies and public relations efforts were designed to compliment the fifties suburbia-boom. Not the most entertaining "read," but packed with useful information for the student of U.S. Civil Defense.

1984 was a banner year for Red Scare revivalism: President Ronald Reagan won a landslide re- election thanks in no small part to his anti-communist platform (recall the summer of '84 "We begin bombing in five minutes" radio gaffe?); Patrick Swayze's teen-slanted epic Red Scare film "Red Dawn" appealed to a new generation of Cold Warriors; and the book "What to Do When the Russians Come" hit bookstores. As hard as it might be to believe, this book offers serious and remarkably detailed advice on how to survive and rebel against a successful Soviet takeover. I keep this book near my nightstand in case the invasion happens while I slumber.