Was Prepping and SHTF always so popular?

[dualstow]

I know that some bomb shelters were built in the 50s, and I always wanted to have a party in one like in the Steely Dan song. But, I don't think people held up much hope of a future should the U.S. and the Soviet Union engage in nuclear war. Even before the concept of a nuclear winter was thoroughly discussed, life on the surface didn't look like a life worth living. And who wants to be a Morlock? Anyway, most of us would be vaporized.

Nowadays, it's more about the economy falling apart and the subsequent collapse of civilization. Perhaps a lack of working machinery or electricity. People are intact, land is still arable, and the main thing we have to worry about is other people and their guns. When did this trend start? Does anyone know?

[MediumTex]

Late 1970s, as I recall.

I believe Harry Browne was an early advocate.

[dualstow]

Late 1970s, as I recall.

I believe Harry Browne was an early advocate.

Ha! Figures.

[WildAboutHarry]

It was a cottage industry in the 1970s, although I don't recall it being called anything as sexy as "prepping".

Howard Ruff was one of the big names, along with Harry.

Howard J. Ruff (born about 1931) is financial adviser and writer of the pro-hard money investing newsletter The Ruff Times. Ruff is the author of Famine and Survival in America (1974), How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years (1979), Survive and Win in the Inflationary Eighties (1981), Making Money (1984), and other books. He has recently updated and re-released his most successful book, re-titling it How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years in the 21st Century (2008).

Ruff advised investors to avoid stocks and bonds and instead to put their portfolios into gold, silver, platinum group metals, and collectibles such as art and numismatic coins. He also advised his readers to store a year's supply of food in preparation for hard times. Ruff believed (as of his 1979-1981 writings) that the United States was headed for a hyperinflationary economic depression and that there was a danger that both government and private pension plans were about to collapse.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Although, it is kind of fun to read through these old books.  I'm sure they can be found on thrift store shelves for cheap.

[HB Reader]

Yes, HB did talk a little bit about the possibility of economic colapse and social unrest in his books during the 1970s, but he certainly didn't dwell on it or try to make it a career like Howard Ruff and others.  Unlike HB, Ruff and many of the others were also big moralizers.  HB didn't discuss it much in his newsletter.  I think HB may have initially gotten a little more attention about it from the mainstream press because his 1974 book sold so well.  Like his advocacy of gold in a portfolio, the press could never seem to let it go or understand it as part of a bigger overall philosopy. 

I think this "literary genre" peaked in the very early 1980's -- a while after Harry had come to view it as a distraction -- but it is obviously still around.         

[WildAboutHarry]

Yes, HB did talk a little bit about the possibility of economic colapse and social unrest in his books during the 1970s, but he certainly didn't dwell on it or try to make it a career like Howard Ruff and others.  Unlike HB, Ruff and many of the others were also big moralizers.  HB didn't discuss it much in his newsletter.  I think HB may have initially gotten a little more attention about it from the mainstream press because his 1974 book sold so well.  Like his advocacy of gold in a portfolio, the press could never seem to let it go or understand it as part of a bigger overall philosopy. 

I think this "literary genre" peaked in the very early 1980's -- a while after Harry had come to view it as a distraction -- but it is obviously still around. 

Harry really did enjoy success and notoriety back then.  I would bet that Howard Ruff was never the subject of an interview in Penthouse

Any other authors of that age and "literary genre" come to mind?

[Jake]

Any other authors of that age and "literary genre" come to mind?

I know that Doug Casey wrote a book called "Crisis Investing" in 1979 that Wikipedia says was very popular. I wonder if his crisis investing recommendations involved getting into stocks, which were the big success story of the next 20 years, and getting out of gold, which was the big loser. I suspect not

[WildAboutHarry]

I don't recall Doug Casey, and I suspect you could be right about his recommendations.

But the book might be worth a look, just from the historical perspective.  From an Amazon review of Crisis Investing:

Speculation is not a given and thankfully many of Mr. Casey's predictions have not come into fruition to the extent he described. But looking at what did happen between the time of the original printing and now, he has been more right than wrong. More importantly, Mr. Casey provides rational thoughts on why.

[HB Reader]

Harry really did enjoy success and notoriety back then.  I would bet that Howard Ruff was never the subject of an interview in Penthouse

Any other authors of that age and "literary genre" come to mind?

Well, some that immediately come to mind that wrote about "upcoming" SHTF-type currency and credit collapses included R.E. McMaster, Doug Casey, John Pugsley, Gary North and Alexander Paris.  That list isn't meant to be exhaustive.  I could probably dig through my attic and find a few more. 

In all fairness to Doug Casey, I think in the early 1980's in one of his books he did recommend buying some beaten down (former Nifty 50-type) US common stocks.