Alas, Babylon is a very good story with characters that are easily relate-able and sympathetic. Written in 1959, it's a horrifying account of the effects of nuclear war upon a small Florida town. Though fiction, Pat Frank was attempting to present an accurate, instructional portrayal of the aftermath of the likely scale of war we might have faced at that time. 
 Where it falls a bit short of that goal is Frank's decision to present what is ultimately a best-case scenario. The setting is a rural area far from strategic targets, possessed of decent people, strong, moral leaders with a modicum of forewarning, and a natural environment capable of providing most necessities. 
 It doesn't have the emotional heft of The Road, but is also not lurid or melodramatic. I'm guessing he'd have written this a bit differently after the up-tick in nuclear capabilities by, say, 1989.