Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read. New York Times bestselling author Robert McCammon's prescient and astonishing vision of a post-apocalyptic United States comes to life in this classic epic of terror and renewal.Facing down an unprecedented malevolent enemy, the US government responds with a nuclear attack. Soon, America as it was is gone forever, and now every citizen--from the president of the United States to the homeless on the streets of New York City--will fight to stay alive. In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, Earth's last survivors are drawn into the final battle between good and evil, which will decide the fate of humanity: Sister, who discovers a strange and transformative glass artifact in the destroyed Manhattan streets...Joshua Hutchins, the pro wrestler who takes refuge from the nuclear fallout at a Nebraska gas station...and Swan, a young girl possessing special powers, who travels alongside Josh to a Midwest town where healing and recovery can begin with her extraordinary gifts. But the ancient force behind the world's devastation is scouring the walking wounded for recruits to build its relentless army, beginning with Swan herself...