Out of the Ashes (Book Review) · 8:07pm Oct 4th, 2023
Of course we survived today's emergency alert. We survived the Great War of 1988, didn't we? 
Go into any Wal-Mart and you're bound to see a shelf full of books featuring the name "William W. Johnstone". This is despite the fact that he's been dead since 2004. Like V.C. Andrews on steroids, Kensingston Publishing has a team of ghostwriters pumping out a steady schedule of around 25 new books PER YEAR with a dead guy's name on them.
In life, Johnstone was indeed a prolific writer. He wrote horror, westerns, political thrillers, and even one experimental romance novel. His most infamous creation, though, was the post-apocalyptic Ashes series. It lasted 36 books from 1983 up to his death. In the tradition of Ayn Rand, it was meant to be a promotion of his very own invented political ideology, dubbed "The Tri-States Philosophy".
What exactly is the Tri-States Philosophy? Well, that's the frustrating part of reading through these. While there is some consistent messaging ("Guns good, lawyers bad"), many political positions change book from book. One may say the Bible must be taught in schools, the very next will say religion doesn't belong in schools. One may say that torture of criminals is wrong, another will have criminals stripped naked, tied up on a highway, and a mutant cannibal cult allowed to eat them. Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you'll get.
So, what happens in the very first book?
It's 1988: Congress has outlawed all guns and a Democrat is expected to win the White House in November (sorry Bush, Sr.). That's when a secret right-wing organization, the Rebels does the most logical thing to save America: Manipulate the major global powers into starting World War III.
One of the survivors of the resulting nuclear and germ warfare is Ben Raines, a mega-super-badass ex-solider, renowned intellectual, and bestselling author of right-wing thrillers (*cough* Johnstone's self-insert *cough*). Naturally, Raines is also a sex-magnet, bedding nearly every woman he meets (as long as they're not too liberal). One of them being nineteen years old, leading to this very special line: "Then, like a couple of kids (one was), they walked the beaches, pounded by wind and sea, holding hands and playing" (pg. 186).
Raines travels across the ruins of America which has degenerated into, among other things, race war. Chicago minorities get genocided by Neo-Nazis, to which Raines's reaction may as well be, "Yeah sure, Nazis are wrong and everything, but the minorities had it coming with all that social justice stuff". We are also later told Raines "did not really know or trust black people. He didn't know why he didn't trust them. He just didn't" (pg. 161).
All great men embrace their destiny eventually. Thus Raines accepts the invitation to become the new leader of the Rebels. Together they take over Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana in order to create a new nation called the Tri-States. In this utopia:
- Crime doesn't exist... because criminals either get promptly executed, or in the case of one mugger, sentenced 25 years of hard labor.
- There's no bigotry... because everyone has to go through polygraph tests and extensive background checks to make sure they don't harbor racism to obtain citizenship (which considering what we were told about his feelings toward black people, leads me to believe that Raines is exempt from this).
- The economy is fixed so that everyone's on equal footing and just becoming a millionaire is difficult... but it's totally not communism because everyone has guns. That's how economic theory works, right?
It's so great and peaceful, Raines even settles down and marries a half-black woman. "SEE? He can't be racist, YOU'RE racist" - William W. Johnstone, probably.
Of course, the evil remnants of the U.S. government (the capital relocated to Richmond, Virginia because D.C. got nuked) grow jealous of the successful Tri-States and launch an all-out attack. It's an absolute slaughterfest as the Rebels retreat. Raines's pregnant wife is even horrifically killed by a federal soldier right in front of him. Don't worry, though. He gets over it by the next scene and hooks back up with that nineteen-year-old from earlier (she's twenty-nine by this point, but still).
Out of the Ashes closes with Raines and his Rebels vowing to not only defeat the U.S. government but also fight to restore order and civilization across the entire world. You know, the world. THE ONE THE REBELS BLEW UP IN THE FIRST DAMN PLACE.
As you could imagine, the Ashes series was the subject of its fair share of controversy. In the 90s, Johnstone claimed/bragged that he was questioned by the FBI over the introduction of a Bill Clinton parody character in Book 19. However, that would pale in comparison when some fans later attempted to create an ACTUAL MILITIA using the series as their guidelines. Calling themselves the "Tri-States Coalition", they ended up splitting apart when members began accusing each other of being "lazy" when it came to training. Such a shame when friends fight...
You really like reading incredibly long trainwreck series, don't you?
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