Read this book: "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank

I grabbed this book ("Alas, Babylon") from the library, found through a search for apocolyptic fiction. Brought it home yesterday (Sunday) and finished it today. It starts a little slow, took me 3 chapters to get really interested, but it was worth it.

It was written and published the first time in 1959. It takes place (mostly) in a post-nuclear war, specifically in Florida. Here's a comment that a reader left on the amazon.com page for this book:

This story deals with the Soviet nuclear attack on America that fortunately didn't happen. Where "On the Beach" was written from a British/ Australian perspective, this book is based in the American south, perhaps making Pat Frank the Pat Conroy of post-apocalyptic fiction. In 1960, during the height of the Cold War, Randy Bragg, descendant of an old Florida family, gets a heads-up from his career Air Force brother and prepares his family and his town for when "the button gets pushed". Younger readers who didn't live through the Cold War might find this story a bit campy, but as one of the kids taught by teachers to hide under my desk, I'm in no position to scoff. The book's short length (by today's standards) might make you take it for pulp fiction at first glance, but the fact that it's still in print four decades later is a testament to its quality. Rather than just crank this thing out, certain that no one would notice the picky details, Frank did his homework on this story. Even down to the dog tag on the collar of a wild stray German shepherd in one passage. ... ... (Review by R.L. Miller)

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This is a must-read. It deals with typhoid, radiation poisoning, water, supplies, marriage, responsibility, childbirth, unpreparedness, feral cats and dogs, and much more. It's so much better written than Patriots by James Rawles, and still gives great info for you to think about.