What if George Romero's popular cult film "Night of the Living Dead" was based on fact? What if there really were zombies knocking at your door? Would you know what to do? Would the government know how to protect you from these creatures? This is the basis of a new book by Max Brooks. This is the first book written by Brooks that I've read. And it is quite the story. Even though it's fiction, it's written as if the author was actually interviewing and reporting on the world wide disaster called the Zombie War. AND nobody was prepared for this type of disaster. According to the dust jacket "Mr Brooks subsequently spent years traveling to every part of the globe in order to conduct the face-to-face interviews..." This is a horror story with a strong underlying vein of humor with generous dashes of sarcasm thrown in for flavor. Just my type of read! Since horror stories are one of the most favorite types of books for me to read, I couldn't resist when I saw this novel on the shelf at a local bookstore. I bought it, read it and liked it so much that I'm going to go back to that store and buy a copy of Max Brook's previous book, The Zombie Survival Guide. After all, I used to be a Girl Scout and I want to be prepared. I mean, what if this is really a true story ?!?Read full review
In the midst the pop-culture zombie craze of 2003, Max Brooks published THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE to help people survive the raging hordes of slow-moving, non-blinking undead that were, presumably, about to overrun the world. In this parodic "documentary," he chronicles his own personal experience of the horrific and bloody Zombie Wars that would have long-since rendered Earth empty of human life, had it not been for the heroic groups of resistance that sprang up all over the globe. Size Length: 320 pages Height: 9.5 in. Width: 6.5 in. Thickness: 1 in. Weight: 20 oz. Publisher's Note “The end was near.” —Voices from the Zombie War The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years. Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War. Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?” Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission. Eyewitness reports from the first truly global war “I found ‘Patient Zero’ behind the locked door of an abandoned apartment across town. . . . His wrists and feet were bound with plastic packing twine. Although he’d rubbed off the skin around his bonds, there was no blood. There was also no blood on his other wounds. . . . He was writhing like an animal; a gag muffled his growls. At first the villagers tried to hold me back. They warned me not to touch him, that he was ‘cursed.’ I shrugged them off and reached for my mask and gloves. The boy’s skin was . . . cold and gray . . . I could find neither his heartbeat nor his pulse.” —Dr. Kwang Jingshu, Greater Chongqing, United Federation of China “‘Shock and Awe’?Read full review
Let me state first off that I am a Zombie buff. I love the movies and have just recently been drawn to the novels, so my opinion is definitely biased. I purchased this book after reading "the Zombie Survival Guide" also written by Max Brooks. Max's first Zombie book is excellent and a must read, very entertaining. "World War Z", although a good book, left me wanting more. The book is done in a series of short stories, which are being told by actual survivors, who are being interviewed by, you guessed it Max Brooks. The story line and characters were not developed well enough from just sheer volume of the different stories. Do not get me wrong I enjoyed the book, but I fear for those people who are not Zombie buffs they will be dissapointed, especially for $24.95 retail. Of course then again Max was obviously writing the book for his loyal fans anyway. I remain loyal to Max but rate the book a GOOD read and not a MUST read, even for Zombie fans.Read full review
The author Max Brooks is now officially my hero. After The Zombie Survival Guide was published the public craved more. He delivered with this novel. WWZ creates a timeline with interviews covering most of the world's Zombie War survivors and how they reacted to the Zombie Outbreak (Level 4 Infestation.) I also love that an interviewee mentions Mr. Brooks first book, The Zombie Survival Guide as being written by a civilian before the outbreaks, briefly as one of the first books on Zed fighting. This was a well-thought out and journalistic approach to a serious issue. What would the inhabitants of Earth do if an infectious virus spread across the globe at an alarming rate, killing those in it's path, and ressurrecting the victims to become the enemy? I'll tell you... We would re-group and fight back. World War Z, an Oral History Of The Zombie War is on my top ten reads of the decade. Check it out!Read full review
In my perspective, World War Z should be the New York Times # 1 book. I thought this book would be a typical fiction book in chronological format. I was wrong, Max Brooks presentation of the story was ingenious. The story stocks out very strong and has a fairly strong ending. I never thought about skimming through the book, or stopping the book. The book was able to capture my attention and hold it. The ending wasn't as strong as the begining, and could have been a little bit better. A lot of books I've read have started strong and fizzled out. I was really impressed by this book. I read World War Z before I read Max Brook's first book. After reading World War Z, I immediately purchased the Handbook to a Zombie invasion.
It all started with The Zombie Survival Guide, which is written by the same author. I immediately sought the book World War Z, and boy am I glad i purchased it. The book is composed of made up people and the situations that they went through before, into, and after the war. The stories are in chronological order, and describe in detail how close the human race came to extinction, then fought their way back. The book is well written, definately has some good 'stories', and some mediocre 'stories'. The only complaint, and this is from my point of view, was that after each story, Mr. Brooks tied the next story into the one before it. It made it seem unrealistic, which is not why i bought the book. It's hard for me to get into the world of zombie's when each story just happens to mention something from the story before. Nevertheless, it is a small detail that is easily overlooked, and the book is overall incredible. I strongly advise you purchase this book if you happen to be a horror fanatic, or even if you have just the slightest interest in it.Read full review
Max Brooks first book ,Zombie Survival Guide was a must have for all zombie fans,however ,as I make my way threw World War Z ,I keep waiting for the good part and have yet to find it.It seems that everytime it starts to get good ,it stops.There is a HUGE amount of political effort put into this and alot of time put in from the far corners of the earth for no apparent reason that I can as of yet make out,we jump from small town US were the dead are at the back door and the family is headed for there car and Dads fighting off the dead and then we switch to some small town in India were the taxes have risen and the food is running short and I dont know why I want to know about that,and we never go back to the family?I may be missing the big picture,this would probably make a great movie ,with alot of editing.Read full review
Max Brooks returns with another superb zombie genre book. World War Z The Oral History of the Zombie War was quite amazing. The entire story is told from other peoples points of view and chronicles the zombie war from beginning to end. I was completely engulfed in World War Z from the first page to the last. I loved how he had the story from different people. He could use different personalities for each one and give a real feel for what happened during the zombie war. I also liked how Brooks was able to chronicle the early portions of the war to the end when the humans fought back and eventually retook the planet (the interviews from the book are taking place after the war with the zombies has virtually ended). I enjoyed the parts when the techniques in defeating the zombies were described from the Redeker Plan to the U.S. Army's strategies in fighting the zombies. Another interesting part is how Brooks brings in how the war has affected countries like Cuba, China, and several third world countries and how they are now powers in the world almost over some countries like the U.S. and Britain. It was amazing how Brooks created all sorts of characters for this book from the army soldiers, to political people, to even a guy who made a placebo cure for the zombie plague and made millions of dollars doing it. There was comedy, there were sad moments, there was exciting moments, and all of which included the core topic of World War Z...zombies. I loved World War Z. Zombie genre fans will definitely enjoy World War Z and I can absolutely say fans of Max Brooks first book The Zombie Survival Guide will love World War ZRead full review
well i picked up the second release to The Zombie Survival Guide, and it fasinated me. i have always been a walking dead fanatic, and i saw the book and i couldn't say no. i read through the book that night it was so amazing. the second release had the first part of WWZ and i was hooked. the first thing i did the next morning was call the Local Barnes and Noble and reserve my copy. I picked it up a few weeks later and all i can say is "WOW." the writing style of Max Brooks is flat out amazing. this is an easy top 5 of all time for my favorite books. i am currently reading through it again, and eagerly awaiting the 2008 Adaptation of WWZ to Film 5 out of 5
Max Brooks most definitely is a zombie lover and it shows through his "oral retelling" of the Zombie War. Taking current zombie trend zombies come from some sort of disease passed by bites. While I miss the old Night of the LIving Dead where the most frightening part of a zombie was them eating people - the fear from zombies now comes from becoming infected. The books works because Brooks manages to tell the reader exactly how the war began, and how it was fought. Some parts are a little out there - some people started to act like zombies without being bitten (i'm not sure why the real zombies didn't pick up on that and eat them) In conclusion - the book does move along very nicely, and each person's story is different and well-told. I will eagerly await Brooks next piece.
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