Set During The Cold War Amid Fears Of Nuclear War. The Cold War Gae Rise To Golden Age Of Science Fiction Apocalypticism. These Stories Ussually Have Religious Components: "Apocalypse" Comes From Religious End Times Eschatologies. For Example - Ralph Realizes Everyone Is Gone When He's In Trinity Church. Also - The Quote On The Un Building Is From The Book Of Isaiah. Derrick Bell's Story The Space Traders Is Similar To The Movie The World - The Flesh - And The Devil In That It Introduces One Element Of Fiction To A Fairly Quotidian Reality And Then Sees How Race Relations Would Realistically Exist Or Break Down In The Face Of That Reality. In The World - The Flesh - And The Devil - Ralph Is Living A Perfectly Normal Life In A Small Town When - Unexpectedly - The World Ends. He Goes To New York And Finds That Only One New Yorker Has Survived - Sarah Crandall. Against The Fictional Backdrop Of The Apocalypse - Life Carries On As Normal. Ralph And Sarah Develop Feelings For One Another - But Cannot Be Together Since - Unlike Ralph - Sarah Is "Free - White - And 21." The World - The Flesh - And The Devil Creates A Sensation Of Cognitive Estrangement - Causing The Audience To See The Absurdism In Racial Segregation.