Tribulation: A Novel of the Near Future - Softcover

Thomas A. Lewis is a veteran journalist and broadcaster who has written six non-fiction books, two of which received favorable critical attention nationwide. He became alarmed about the state of the environment while working as the executive editor of the Time-Life Books 18-volume series on the earth sciences, "Planet Earth," and later when, as roving editor for National Wildlife Magazine, he traveled from Alaska to Costa Rica to chronicle the distress of animals and their ecosystems.
It was while writing "EQ Index," an annual assessment of the state of the US environment for National Wildlife and The World Almanac, that he began to suspect that pollution and exploitation of natural resources had reached a point of no return. That conviction led to his latest non-fiction work, Brace for Impact: Surviving the Crash of the Industrial Age -- and to the present work of fiction, which imagines how that crash might happen, and how an American family might deal with it.
Lewis lives on what he calls a "sustainable-ready" farm in West Virginia where he has learned, he says, that "if my life depended on my sustainable-living skills I'd be dead now." He chronicles the ongoing crash of the industrial age on his website The Daily Impact. 

Written with consistent grace and a clear passion for its issues, Lewis' novel is often absorbing, perhaps due to the fact that the subject matter seems scarily close at hand. The book's driving political critique is a thorough takedown of corporate statehood, blind wastefulness and human greed...The novel's action and contemplation give readers a nuanced representation of what could possibly be an impending reality...A riveting, somewhat terrifying work of political speculative fiction. - Kirkus Reviews

A harsh, wonderfully written story of survival...reminiscent of Orwell's 1984. The Trent family is...one of the most remarkable that can be found in near-future survivalist literature...Acclaimed author Thomas A. Lewis's talent shines...a highly engaging must-read with classic potential. - Penn Book Review

Set in the near future, this intellectually stimulating take on the end of civilization is made more chilling by how easily it could all happen. Smartly written and exhaustively researched...frightening in its stark portrayal of the ills and errors of today's world...makes interesting and fresh predictions about the ultimate fate of humanity following an apocalyptic event...gives the reader a sense of hope rather than dread. - Foreword Clarion Review

The subject of this book is not only about the idea of physically surviving. Even if you do not share the author's view on global warming, the moral and ethical questions raised here are important. Also the narrator is engaging, the language rich, the descriptions vivid and the book interesting to more than just devoted environmentalists. - Portland Book Review

What is best about this novel is how Lewis utilizes his own intense study and knowledge of the subjects at hand to inform, as well as entertain, the reader. An early passage where he analyzes precisely how a hurricane works... is as clear an explanation of these catastrophic storms as one can find anywhere...there will be a small mountain of Apocalyptic novels coming out over the next several years. They will have quite a job surpassing Tribulation for both its science and its perspective. - San Francisco Book Review