APOCALYPSE READY: The Manual of Manuals

Sub-titled 'A Century of Panic Prevention', it is an expertly curated compilation of officially published step-by-step guides on how to deal with every kind of disaster imaginable, drawn from government archives all around the world from the 1910s to today. With useful how-to tips on avoiding infection, constructing a facemask, how to tornado-proof your home, assemble your survival kit, escape a flooded car, identify edible plants, protect livestock, overcome trauma, transmit messages and more. Apocalyptic. Organised into four broad themes - Pandemics, Natural Disasters, Nuclear War and Alien Invasion, this very visual guide displays public survival advice and scare tactics. Leaflets show how to build an earthquake shelter and booklets provide step-by-step advice on how to protect yourself and your family during a nuclear war. Posters show how to minimise your chances of catching Spanish flu and documents indicate how to identify aliens. From hotlines staffed by intelligence officials to messages beamed into the cosmos, governments around planet Earth have taken the possibility of an alien invasion seriously since sightings began in earnest at the end of the 19th century, with mysterious airships being reported across the United States. Some of the imaginative posters and probably very faked photographs have been controversial for decades. Here too are military manuals to survive nuclear, biological and chemical attacks and first aid for nerve agent, chocking agent, blood and blister agent casualties. Unimpressed by public information campaigns around nuclear attack, C. Bruce Sibley created his own manual named Surviving Doomsday which explains how ordinary people can construct a homemade suit to protect themselves from nuclear fallout. Here it has been reproduced in full colour together with diagrams of sources of possible radiation hazards and the development of a nuclear explosion. Fighting fire, tornadoes and other extreme weather, earthquakes, even a tuberculosis prevention poster campaign from Shanghai and a cleanliness poster from France 1920. A big beautifully designed Thames & Hudson publication, 256pp, 17.5 x 24.1cm. Hundreds of colour images.