APOCALYPSE PRETTY SOON: Travels in End-Time America.

• Author: Ackerman, Elise
• Position: Review

APOCALYPSE PRETTY SOON: Travels in End-Time America by Alex Heard W.A. Norton & Company, $24.95

IT TOOK YEARS OF PLEADING before writer Alex Heard finally convinced pod-owner Bob Hieronimus to let him have a look around his underground bunker. Anticipating the coming apocalypse, Hieronimus constructed the refuge deep beneath his home, somewhere in the vicinity of Baltimore. (The address is cloaked to throw off would-be marauders.) Heard takes in the giant boxes of Tampons, the 40 bunk beds, the stockpiles of canned goods, the escape hatch. But he needs more visceral input, so he asks Hieronimus to let him crawl through the hatch. Inside, Heard inhales the scent of raw dirt and mildew and lays a hand on the cool metal. Closure at last, he thinks.

After a decade poking around wacky American beliefs in future earth changes, extraterrestrial visits, and other assorted phenomena, it is no wonder that Heard developed a need to check things out for himself. A reporter turned magazine editor, Heard ponders "revelation physics" and immerses himself in esoteric texts, wiggling both his body and his mind through elaborately constructed responses to the end of the millennium. The result is both a meticulous catalogue of social dysfunction and a riveting travelogue of the wellsprings of American faith and inventiveness.

This is a guide to an America where human beings are as easily matched up with "Space Brothers" as they are with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, where a vengeful earth deity is in control, and perpetual motion and eternal life are one simple scientific discovery away. While such beliefs are easily mocked, it is instructive to remember that polls show that most Americans--that is mainstream, Super Bowl-watching, 401K-investing Americans--are convinced of the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Most believe in angels and many think that Christ will return in their lifetimes. Given the short distance between acceptable and far-out spiritual views, the conviction of many people that these are the Last Days can be troubling, especially when they arm themselves in anticipation of violent upheaval. The big question is: Should we worry?

One weakness of this rollicking account of millennial enthusiasms is that Heard deliberately steers clear of the most dangerous fringe elements. Authorities consider groups like Christian Identity a real threat. Heard halfheartedly tries to contact one such group and quickly gives up. The vast majority of the...