Five Families. One Shattered Nation. World War III was uglier than anyone had feared. The nuclear bombs were bad; the Chinese-engineered plagues were worse. Those who died in the Five Day War had it easy—it was the survivors who dug out of the rubble only to face starvation, chaos and bandit gangs who had to live through hell. In Texas and across the American South five families approach survival and rebuilding in their own way. The Newcastles of Texas fall back on their history of ranching, and community leadership to organize and defend their allies. The Atkinses out of the Appalachians employ raw violence, while the Hollinses work their political wiles to help rebuild government. The newcomer Mackenzies use repurposed tech to protect their trading convoys - and link up with the Lopezes of Mexico who are fighting their own battles. Not everyone wants America and Texas to rebuild. The allied forces of civilization must face outlaw gangs who prey on the helpless and political upstarts who want to carve new empires out of the American heartland. Markets, order, and safety are precious, and chaos, disorder, and militarism push in from every direction. From the space launch facilities on the Gulf coast to the oil fields of the Texas panhandle, free men fight to rebuild and reestablish civilization. Echoing the grand tradition of post-apocalypse survival sagas such as Lucifer's Hammer, The Postman, and The Road, Corcoran’s vast chronicle brings to life a broken land where hard men - and once-soft men made hard by circumstance - must doggedly battle to hold onto their dream of a nation conceived in liberty and fight to rebuild a shattered America.