Patriots is an alternate history novel series written by James Wesley, Rawles. Originally published in 1997, he rewrote the first book in 2009 to modernize the story, and he then proceeded to publish 4 other books in the series. The premise is simple: in 2012 the world suffers a complete socioeconomic collapse brought about by a number of events, which started with the onset of hyperinflation in the US. The books follow different groups of people as they attempt to survive in this new world and eventually start to rebuild the old one. But there are forces out there determined to use this opportunity to seize power, and they will stop at nothing to accomplish their goals.
The series is unique in that the events of each book are independent of the others, meaning the series can be read in any order.
Patriots contains examples of:
- Alternate History: In 2012, the world suffers “The Crunch”, which makes the Great Depression look like a common cold compared to double pneumonia. As a result of The Crunch, every country (with a few exceptions) suffers a complete socioeconomic collapse and descends into anarchy.
- Anyone Can Die: Played straight with the death of . He gets killed as him, , and are fleeing from an ambush. A random shot goes straight through his head, killing him instantly.
- Sliding Scale of Alternate History Plausibility: Type II. Although technically a prediction/warning of the future when it was written, it now reads as an alternate history, which is fairly well-researched. A few liberties may have been taken in regards to how people react after the Point of Departure, but for the most part it’s an accurate assessment of what would happen to our world in the event of a complete collapse of society.
