After America is an alternate history novel by Australian novelist John Birmingham and released in Australia in July 2010.^[1][2] It was released in the United States on 17 August 2010.^[3]

It is the middle book of a three-part series, being preceded by Without Warning in 2007 and followed up by Angels of Vengeance in 2012. The overall group is known as the Without Warning trilogy and is the author's second such multi-part work.

In 2007, four years after the "Wave" devastated North America, former Seattle Council member James Kipper is now President. The U.S. government and capital have relocated to Seattle, revealing that 15 to 20 million Americans survived and returned. Jed Culver, Kipper's Chief of Staff and close friend, joins him as they travel to New York City, where crews clear debris from vehicles and aircraft after the Wave made its victims disappear. With few people left, fires burn unchecked, and parts of New York are flooded. The U.S. military, alongside the New York Militia, combats pirates, looters, terrorists, and gangs from South America, Africa, and Eastern Europe on the East Coast.

Julianne Balwyn and Rhino Ross are members of a salvage crew. While clearing streets, they encounter Kipper, who is suspicious of Jules. Kipper departs to tour the city, hearing gunfire nearby. Texas, now under federal mandate after a mass killing, is giving farmland to immigrants for citizenship. Miguel Pieraro and his family run one such farm. Jackson Blackstone, a retired general turned xenophobic governor, employs road agents to harass farmers. When road agents attack Pieraro's home, they murder his relatives. Pieraro and his daughter Sofia retaliate and decide to leave for Kansas City, the largest intact city in the U.S. Midwest.

Caitlin Monroe and Bret Melton are now married and living in Wiltshire, where they run a farm together. Monroe is still with Echelon but is no longer a field agent; she now serves only as an adviser. She and her husband have an infant daughter named Monique, after the French activist Caitlin befriended in the aftermath of the Wave, who died at the hands of rogue French DGSE agents working for al-Banna, the terrorist Caitlin was tracking.

In New York City, Kipper meets the press at Castle Clinton when Katyusha rockets hit from Muslim fighters on Ellis Island. The U.S. Secret Service protects Kipper while U.S. Army Rangers, including Staff Sergeant Fryderyk Milosz, head to Ellis Island to clear it. Milosz, a former Polish GROM operator, joined the U.S. Army to gain citizenship after his homeland collapsed. He is with Master Sergeant Wilson and two other Rangers in a Blackhawk helicopter, but cannot get close due to enemy fire; one of their neighboring Blackhawks is shot down after an Apache launches a barrage at Castle Clinton.

Yusuf Mohammed, a Ugandan teenager who was forcibly recruited into the Emir's forces by the Lord's Resistance Army, is with a group of Ugandan, Ethiopian, and Somali fighters when they launch rockets at Castle Clinton. They are all killed by an Apache attack, leaving Yusuf as the sole survivor. He encounters another group of jihadist fighters, who shoot down the Black Hawk next to Milosz's bird. Although Yusuf's men are killed, he jumps into the water and drifts away.

Milosz, Wilson, and their team fast rope into Ellis Island to secure the area, where they capture some of the fighters. Milosz observes U.S. Navy SEALs, Sandline mercenaries, and teams from the National Intelligence Agency, which replaced the CIA after the Wave, taking away the prisoners.

Jules and Rhino are in New York City to handle paperwork for a Seattle Client interested in oil deposits off California's coast. This paperwork proves his pre-Wave ownership, securing government backing to drill again. They wait for the right moment to retrieve the papers and get paid.

Yusuf sails up the Hudson River to Pier 86, where he sees the decrepit USS Intrepid, now damaged with aircraft fallen to the barge nearby, wrecking the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. In Russian and Serbian Mafia territory, he sneaks ashore to reach the Emir's compound with information.

Kipper refuses evacuation due to a wounded staff; in Texas, Pieraro and Sofia seek vengeance against road agents; in England, Caitlin kills assassins attacking Bret Melton and Monique, leaving one, Richardson. Caitlin goes to London with Echelon agent Dalby to interrogate Richardson about the assassination attempts. In New York, Jules and Rhino escape their hotel after an attack by irregular fighters; Kipper learns they can't evacuate to JFK Airport due to a battle between U.S. Air Force Security Forces and irregulars, while Special Forces and 1st Cavalry Division troops clear the area.

Lieutenant Colonel Kinninmore of the 1st Cavalry Division briefs Kipper on his soldiers' findings. Most fighters use suicide bombs to avoid capture, but they've captured low-level pirates who reveal an Emir, a mysterious Arabian man, came to New York City six months ago from Morocco, promising Muslim fighters the city if they fight the U.S. The Emir bribed rival gangs with promises of territory outside the city, but the Russian and Serbian Mafia declined. Kinninmore also notes that new Katyusha rockets and Type 56 rifles recovered from the dead originated in terrorist-active Pakistan and Yemen. Kipper is evacuated on Marine One, a VH-71 Kestrel helicopter provided by the Royal Air Force under a Lend-Lease agreement. During the flight, Kipper hears about Blackstone's activities in Texas and the Pieraro family's recent woes due to road agents, prompting him to demand action.

Caitlin and Dalby travel to Salisbury Plain, where Richardson is interrogated by Echelon agents. It is revealed that al-Banna hired him and his crew to kill Caitlin and her family. Caitlin is ordered to London to prepare for a flight to Germany, where al-Banna's mother lives. The British military at Salisbury Plain is now equipped with Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, C-17 transports, M-16 rifles, and other surplus U.S. military gear. They also have a base in Norfolk, Virginia, and their Royal Navy is interdicting pirate ships in the Atlantic Ocean, as the U.S. Navy is now smaller and less capable.

Miguel Pieraro and Sofia meet two Mormon cattle herders, Willem D'Age and Cooper Aronson, who have left their main group, including their wives and children, behind to get their herd north to Kansas City. Pieraro reveals to them what happened with his family; later, it is discovered that road agents kidnapped Aronson's group as sex slaves. As revenge for his own loss and to help his new friends, Pieraro vows vengeance against the road agents.

Kipper flies to Kansas City for a teleconference with General Tommy Franks, who reports the worsening situation in New York and requests more troops against pirates. Kipper asks Culver about neutron bombs, but Admiral Ritchie confirms they were destroyed in the 1990s, and chemical weapons are being demilled. Culver urges Kipper to strike New York with strategic bombers, but Kipper hesitates to damage infrastructure. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Russia launched nuclear strikes in 2003 on former Soviet republics, and India and Pakistan’s 2005 war resulted in 200 million deaths, with casualties from the Israeli nuclear strike now exceeding 600 million.

In New York City, Lieutenant Colonel Kinninmore assigns Master Sergeant Wilson and Staff Sergeant Milosz two U.S. Air Force Combat Controllers, Technical Sergeant Bonnie Gardener and Staff Sergeant Veal, to enter enemy territory and call air strikes on positions threatening helicopters. While the Ranger fire team engages the enemy in Lower Manhattan, Jules and Rhino fight across Union Square. In Texas, Pieraro learns that Aronson and D'Age possess night vision goggles and find a bar where road agents hold the Mormon women. They plan a night attack. While Caitlin prepares to go to London for Berlin, Kipper considers how to handle New York; Yusuf reaches the Emir's compound, sharing his observations, which impresses the Emir and earns Yusuf a place in his harem as a reward.

Milosz, Wilson, Gardener, and Veal engage in a fierce firefight against pirates, resulting in Veal's death from a grenade. They encounter Jules and Rhino, who help them by killing several pirates and forcing a retreat. Wilson insists they turn in their weapons due to their flight from work, but Milosz agrees to assist when Jules offers a share of their payment. Despite Wilson's frustration, Milosz calls a Blackhawk to transport the Rangers along with Jules and Rhino to a staging area near Central Park.

In Texas, Pieraro and the Mormons assault the bar and kill most of the road agents, rescuing the Mormon women and executing the survivors as punishment for their crimes against the Mormons and anyone else. Pieraro learns that his daughter used a Remington 700 sniper rifle to cover the attack and therefore save his life even though he told her to leave for safety; he is proud of her and they bond over the moment.

Kipper visits the North Kansas City Hospital, which has become the main military medical center for wounded personnel. He pins the Purple Heart and other medals on the pillows of wounded personnel and takes the responsibility of writing letters to the deceased personnel because he feels guilty over making decisions that sent soldiers and Marines to their deaths.

In Palestine, Texas, Pieraro and the Mormons find burned-out settlements where road agents had been and where they had killed men, women, and children. Pieraro takes photos of the scene for evidence to give to the FBI, which is now headquartered in Kansas City, while the Mormons administer last rites to the dead and bury them in cairns.

Kipper receives another brief from Franks, who requests more troops. In Texas, Pieraro and the Mormons settle in an abandoned house and talk about what they were doing when the Wave hit; Roberto Morales, Pieraro's old ranch hand and a nemesis during the Wave, is now a dictator in charge of the new South American Federation, which was formed from all the countries of Central and South America after the Wave. While Blackstone hassles immigrants with his road agents, Morales is a constant threat to Blackstone, which keeps him from alienating the federal government too much.

Yusuf and his team attack the Americans but retreat, realizing they cannot win. Caitlin travels from Berlin to New York on an MC-130H with orders to capture al-Banna. She informs Kipper that she may kill him due to his past crimes against her family. Kipper tries to dissuade her, but she refuses.

Jules and Rhino are ambushed by Mexican drug cartel shooters working for construction magnate Henry Cesky in New York City. They steal papers from Cesky's headquarters. Caitlin saves them and kills Cesky's men. They infiltrate the Emir's building, finding papers implicating al-Banna and Cesky.

Milosz, Wilson, and Gardener are ambushed by Yusuf's irregulars. Milosz breaks the ambush using steel buckets and Claymore mines, killing everyone, including Yusuf. Lieutenant Cleaver asks Milosz to verify Jules and Rhino's identity, and the 82nd Airborne Division picks them up. Rangers and Air Force mark Rockefeller Center using laser designators for air strike.

Lieutenant Colonel Kinninmore alerts Kipper about irregulars using Manhattan's bridges. Kipper orders all bridges destroyed while Governor Schimmel is on Governors Island. The irregulars gather around Rockefeller Center, designated by Wilson, Milosz, and Gardener. Kinninmore joins 1/7 Cav in combat, avoiding the kill zone. In Texas, the Pieraro group herds cattle through a valley when a storm strikes, causing some Mormons and most cattle to be washed away in a flash flood.

The B-52s target Rockefeller Center as ground forces retreat. Incendiary bombs obliterate the area, killing hundreds and forcing Russian and Serbian mafiosos to surrender. Caitlin, Rhino, and Jules are helicoptered out, with Caitlin upset for letting the Emir go. They witness A-10 Warthogs and AH-64 Apaches assaulting Central Park.

Pieraro and Sofia survive but find many of their friends dead. Recovering from the flash flood, they realize they've crossed into Oklahoma, safe from Texas road agents. They move towards Kansas City for a peaceful new life.

• After America title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database