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“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’? Perfect name. . . . But what if the enemy
can’t be shocked and awed? Not just won’t, but biologically
can’t! That’s what happened that day outside New York City,
that’s the failure that almost lost us the whole damn war. The
fact that we couldn’t shock and awe Zack boomeranged right back
in our faces and actually allowed Zack to shock and awe us!
They’re not afraid! No matter what we do, no matter how many we
kill, they will never, ever be afraid!” —Todd Wainio, former
U.S. Army infantryman and veteran of the Battle of Yonkers
“Two hundred million zombies. Who can even visualize that type of
number, let alone combat it? . . . For the first time in history,
we faced an enemy that was actively waging total war. They had no
limits of endurance. They would never negotiate, never surrender.
They would fight until the very end because, unlike us, every
single one of them, every second of every day, was devoted to
consuming all life on Earth.” —General Travis D’Ambrosia,
Supreme Allied Commander, Europe
From the Hardcover edition.
Slow....Reviewed by P. Kennedy, 2010-03-11
I bought this book because I read an article about the 10 scariest books to read and this was one of them. NOT! Its a sloooow read, I didn't know what to expect but it certainly was MORE then this. The interview style of writing, bouncing around the world talking to various people how they handled Zombie attacks, AND the politics,politics, politics just bored me to death. There were parts that were interesting about rebuliding America after the plague (putting criminals in stocks and public whippings for example) but zzzzzzzzz's for the most part. When I read a book like this I like to feel the tension and fear, I want to be afraid. This did none of it for me. Oh well....on to the next one.
Best of the bunchReviewed by James Ware, 2010-03-07
In the growing sub-genre of zombie fiction, Brooks work stands out.
It is the best of the lot. It is gritty and real and smacks with
the authenticity of the words of people who have been to hell and
back.
If you read only one "zombie book", you could do much worse than
pick this one.
Undead in the Head book reviewReviewed by Lyle Perez, 2010-03-06
While I review this book I want to make it clear that I am only
giving very brief comments on the book so I don't give out many
spoilers. I'm just going to give out a very fast, easy
review.
Hands down this is one of the best zombie novels out there. It has
everything from action to emotion and it's intelligent.
The title of the book pretty much sums up the book, it is an oral
history of the zombie war. The main plot is about a United Nations
Postwar Commission agent (Max Brooks) who is writing a report about
the zombie war. The UN was only interested in facts and figures,
and so it left out a lot of the individual feelings from his
report. The novel is basically his whole report, written as a form
of protest to not have these people's stories be silenced.
World War Z or WWZ is written in a way that makes you (the reader)
believe this was an accrual war that took place a decade ago.
Brooks travels around the world to find these people so they can
give their side of the story. We go from country to country reading
what they had to do to survive. One thing I enjoyed about the book
was the style; Brooks chimes in just at the right time to ask just
the right questions as the interview goes on.
Unlike most books WWZ does not start with the infected already
taking over the world and we follow a group of survivors along
their journey. Instead the first person interviewed was one of the
doctors that first came into contact with an infected child.
Although the real origin of the virus remains unknown, the first
encounter was in China.
I don't want to give out to much detail as the book its self will
cover everything better than I can. Let's move a long to some of
the action the book has to offer. The battle of Yonkers is what
stands out the most. The person being interviewed is Todd Wainio he
tells just how unprepared the military was with their counter
attack. What was to be a moral booster for the American public
turned ugly real quick. The book continues and we hear about other
countries counter attack attempts that end in pure horror as
military personal are given orders to abandon protected citizens.
In order to see what happens next and how the war is finally won by
the human race you'll have to read to book.
There is an abridged audio book of WWZ. It is a well done audio
book as each interview is met by a different voice. Many voices in
the audio book are familiar as we have Luke Skywalk (Mark Hamill)
Jesus from the Big Lebowski (John Turturro) Norman from All in the
Family (Rob Reiner) and so many other well known actors, directors.
Etc. Only problem with the audio book is that it is an abridged
version so there are a lot of good interviews missing. If you take
anything out of my review please let it be this, do not listen to
the audio book before reading the book. I made that mistake. I
missed a lot of good stuff left out of the audio book. I will put a
link to the audio book
Over all WWZ is a great novel and I recommend it to anyone
interested in zombies. I'll give WWZ a rating of 5 Undead Heads out
of 5.
This is a wonderful book in all aspectsReviewed by S. Robles, 2010-03-06
This is a book about people dealing with Zombies. How zombies affected the world. The craft involved in making this book is memerizing. A fantastic read.
Have not read it myself yet...Reviewed by Michele Zerbe, 2010-02-25
This was a gift, and the person I bought it for reads it frequently. Definitely a must for zombie-fanatics.