If It Happened Here

It also becomes clear that the citizens of Los Angeles have changed in more subtle ways. Reality TV tanks, as the utter banality of shows like Survivor and The Bachelor finally sinks in. Dozens of MBA students from UCLA, USC and Pepperdine change their majors to psychology, religious studies and health care. Sexual activity spikes while rapes, homicides and crime in general decline. Finally, a paunchy bearded screenwriter, both his high-powered agent and their deal dead, pulls out an old half-finished novel and starts all over again. His theme this time around: the unfairness of life, the nearness of death and the role of fate in human affairs.

Although this scenario is a fictional one, it is based in large part on real events, emergency plans, and interviews with politicians, law-enforcement and terrorism experts.