World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

by Max Brooks

Book Overview

Brooks, author of the straight-faced parody "The Zombie Survival Guide," tells the story of the world's desperate battle against the zombie threat with a series of first-person accounts by various... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307346617
• ISBN13: 9780307346612
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press
• Length: 342 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.1" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

We'll I actually listened to the audio book but I love this book

I never watched the movie (I heard they are pretty much two separate things anyway). I was on a road trip with my mother she said my father had been recommending we listen to this for a long time. Now I am not really fond of fiction books or zombies but I actually found this great. In so many fiction books people just seem so over powered and stupid you just laugh and say "Yeah sure" and no matter what genre you seem to pick up its a romance novel. Finding a good fiction book is like trying to find a gem in the dirt. I do say this is one of them revealing realistic emotions, physical limitations, and decisions. The story was really captivating and always left you wondering what would happen next. The end didn't leave you feeling disappointed ether it felt complete. I am sure even if you don't care about zombies you will love this book.

Surprise! This book is not what your expecting…and not in a good way.

Upon watching the World War Z film, I was extremely interested in seeing what the book had in store as the movie had a great concept and an engaging storyline. After reading the book, I was disappointed to say the least. The author decides to use a unique literary technique which consists of many interviews from people during “The Zombie War”. Although this style is intriguing, it falls flat in my opinion. As I read the accounts, one after the other, the narrative didn’t improve. Since there is no real protagonist to follow, the stories lack relevance and the storyline feels dull and gutless. When I read a book or watch a film, I like to see a character grow and evolve. However, the author’s technique of rapid fire interviews made me lose emotional investment in the plot. Despite its flaws, the book had good imagery and was well organized. Unfortunately, those are about all the positive things I can say about it. I just feel that without a protagonist to relate to, it was hard to connect with the storyline. If you are a fan of “guide” style novels, then perhaps I would recommend it. But if you are like me, and enjoy character heavy plotlines and rich storytelling, then this is not the book for you. I would give World War Z a 1.5 out of 5 stars.

Ordered 'Very Good Condition' paperback, came with 20+ pages folded over

Disappointed

Infinitely better than the movie

The only thing the book and the movie have in common is the title and the fact that they involve zombies. I thought the movie was actually okay. But the book is where it's at. It's just what the subtitle says--an oral history of the zombie war. Each chapter is a different person sharing their experience of the zombie war. And they're laid out in chronological order, so you get to see the war from its murky inception to the grim aftermath. One of my favorite books. Perfect to read during the spooky fall months, if you ask me.

Took me my 2nd try reading.

Ok let me start by I HATE BOOKS that have 50 people's story. I'm more of give me closure. So my first attempt I gave up by chapter 3. Years later I got it again. I couldn't put it down!!! So if you've tried it once n wasn't a fan give it a 2nd try

Make time to get lost in

I began to read , to be conscious of the words and focusing on setting a scene, then I was in it. As it moves from point of view to chronicled history to heart wrenching realities of the human animal, I was engulfed. I LOVE books you get lost in , become part of and can’t bear to put down. While the book didn’t change my life it did open my eyes to interesting possibilities. Entertaining beginning to end buy for yourself buy for friends, reguardless if it’s “not you kind of novel” . This is a fictional capture of very believable situations and a study inhuman nature with an undead twist. Buy it and go someplace alone till your done reading. Enjoy

I couldn't put it down!

As you read this book, you will feel like you're reading about real people in real situations as they deal with a global crisis. You will grow attached to the characters as their story develops. Max Brooks tells a spellbinding tale that everyone should read.

The Zombie Apocalypse and the Rise of Humanity!!

Max Brooks returns with his second zombie related novel, "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War." Whereas his first novel, "The Zombie Survival Guide" gave precise instructions on how to prepare for a zombie uprising, this novel is a collection of interviews done by the author (we can only assume it's Brooks himself) with dozens of survivors of the Zombie War, a worldwide global catastrophe that had taken place a few years earlier. He starts the novel by documenting the outbreak in China which was covered up by officials at the highest levels of government. Without warning, the plague of flesh hungry undead soon spills into parts of Asia, Europe and is soon transmitted globally. Brooks shows great political insight as he "interviews" the survivors, each one with their own idea regarding who is to blame regarding the outbreak. Those interviewed include: an elderly Chinese doctor who encounters what they refer to as "Patient Zero," the first zombie of the initial outbreak; and a doctor in South America who involuntarily performs a heart transplant with an infected heart and cleans up his own mess. These are just a few of the characters that Brooks introduces us to before the epidemic spreads and the world is in the grasp of the undead in what was called the "Great Panic." The "Great Panic" is the section of the book where Brooks details the encounters between the undead and people around the world. Not everybody who fought and died in the Zombie War was a solider as Brooks introduces us to regular people who fought for themselves and their families. He interviews a family who decides to head north to Canada in the hopes that the cold would freeze the undead only to be faced with another problem: starving, desperate humans. Brooks also introduces the reader to a soldier who fought in the Battle of Yonkers, which was a battle between thousands of undead New Yorkers and US soldiers, who were ultimately defeated and forced to retreat. This is by far the bleakest section of the novel as it documents the last hope of mankind as the numbers of zombies multiply and hopes of humanity dwindle. The section titled "Turning the Tide" documents how people around the world found ways to outsmart and eventually defeat the undead. Brooks interviews a man in South Africa, who gives Brooks insight into what was referred to as the "Redeker Plan." This was a strategy that involved soldiers grouping a select group of civilians into makeshift fortresses and essentially using them as bait to lure zombies away from "Safe Zones" so that soldiers and armed forces could clear any zombies from these zones, regroup, and then begin attacking legions of the undead. The plan, despite it's gruesome idea of using humans as bait, worked and would eventually be used by other nations as a way to start driving hordes out. Brooks then moves on, interviewing witnesses and discussing the "Total War" that mankind had with the undead after they were able to unite and figh

Howard Zinn Meets Zombies

I wasn't sure what to think with a follow up to the Zomibe Survival Guide. The first few pages were slow, but after that I couldn' t stop with it. It is in a very serious tone and acts like a real history book would in cataloging events by chronological order but through the words of people who survived. It's like if Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States were mixed with a zombie outbreak. It's more interesting than scary, yet holds the reader til the end wanting to know the outcome. Although fictional, Brooks portrays the characters with distinct voices and perspectives that would convince anyone they were real. The people range from victims to heroes and all feel essential to the story. He never strays toward the absurd or gore effect that occurs with some horror tales. If one didn't know better they would have believed it had happened. Unlike most zombie books and movies, this one will be ranked as the best due to the humanity and realism of what a zombie epidemic would force mankind to endure and win. The only part of the story that dragged was about the dogs role in the war near the end. It felt overdone and drawn out and could've been shortened to a page or two at most. Overall this is the best zombie book I ever read and would recommened it to any zombie lovers in an undead heartbeat.

A classic piece of horror and apocalyptic writing

I was one of many who heard about Max Brooks' satirical guide book The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead. Being a huge fan of George A. Romero's Dead series of films and just the zombie subgenre in general, I was intrigued by the release of this guidebook. From the first page to the last I was impressed, entertained, and hooked on Brooks' serio-comic take on how to survive a zombie outbreak. One section of the book which really caught my interest and has remained a favorite to reread over and over was the final one which details the so-called "historical" instances of past zombie outbreaks throughout history. From as far back as Ancient Egypt and Rome up to the late 1990's. My only gripe about that section of the book was that it was all-too-brief. I felt that it could've been made longer and even would've made for a fine book on its own. Maybe I wasn't the only one to have wished for such a thing to happen for it seems that Brooks himself might have thought the same thing. His latest book in his trip through the zombie genre is titled World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War and it takes the final chapter of his previous book and expands on it. But instead of using past "historical events" to tell his story Brooks goes into the near future to describe what would happen if the zombies ever did bring the human race to the brink of extinction and how humans finally learned how to fight back and take back the world. World War Z is a fictional account of a worldwide outbreak of the living dead in the near future and judging from some of the descriptions of places and events in the beginning of the book it won't be too far in the future. WWZ is done in an interview-style format with each chapter consisting of first-person interviews of individuals who lived through the Zombie War from its initial outbreak to it's final battles and mop-up operations. The sampling of survivors interviewed range from soldiers who fought the losing battles in the early going of the war when lack of information, outdated tactics, and illogical reactions to the zombie outbreak contributed to humanity almost losing the war. These soldier survivors explain how humanity became its own worst enemy when it came to protecting its own and combatting the growing ranks of the zombies. Some of the mistakes were unavailable as information on how to combat the zombies were far and few and even then most were unreliable. Some mistakes on the other hand many today would consider as unconscionable as war-profiteers and those willing to put keep a hold on their own power would sacrifice their own people to keep it so. There's also regular people who survived the war and who made great contributions during the dark days when humanity were pushed into isolated and fortified pockets of resistance as everywhere around them the zombie army grew exponentially. Some of these people were just children when the outbreak first began as rumors and unsubstantiated