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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.
Not a story- but a world
| Customer Rating:   | Max Brooks' World War Z turns zombie-lore on its bloody, severed head and presents it in a brand new way. Humanity has already won the war on Zombie when the book begins, the struggle for survival has been triumphant. But Brooks is out to tally the physical and spiritual losses humanity endured by interviewing survivors from every continent.
The voices of these survivors, from Cuba, China, America, South Africa, Britian, Canada are real, believable and unique. They are civilians, soldiers, politicians, and doctors. With amazing detail, the humanity of the stories shines through even the bleakest experiences.
Ultimately, Brooks succeeds in more than writing a good story; he creates a world, a world of his own vision that mirrors our own in all its horror and glory. |
Story of Human Nature at its Best (and Worst)
| Customer Rating: | This amazing read details the beginning, climax, and mop-up of the zombie apocalypse using a series of interviews with everyone from heads of military departments to farmers and industrymen. This book shows the human species' tenacity and undying willpower, but it also shows how thick-headed and corrupt people can really be.
Although the subject matter may not directly relate to many people, the underlying social narrative relates to everyone and everything in our society today. |
Really Cool Zombie Book
| Customer Rating: | | At first I was doubtful that a zombie novel would be better than classic fliks. Man am I surprised, this is the real Zombie $#!T. I don't think a Zombie movie has ever captured the worldwide effect of a Zombie attack as good as this book. The story is set in the present depicting real places, real historical moments making it believable. Makes you wonder what would happen if this really happened. Great book and hope to find more from the author. Recommended for any Zombie fan. |
A strong read for the end of times
| Customer Rating: | This book is a badge of honor to which I will proudly announce that I have read. You would not be wasting your money if you purchased this book and were truly afraid for the future. It's realistic, well written, and leaves enough for the imagination to let your mind spin with gruesome possibilities that would be present with legions of the shambling undead breaking in your front door to feed on your flesh...
The only negative gouging I would offer for this book is that the ending was a little soft for my taste. A personal opinion, but I, like so many others, actually thought Star Wars episode 1 was a good idea...before I actually saw it... (drastically reducing my credibility in reviewing this book) so don't take my critiques too seriously or you'll end up with a brain tumor and a serious distrust of politicians...
Anyway, regardless, it's a good and solid read, A serious bit of fun that I would recommend getting your hands on, if nothing else but to hold up in front of your basement dwelling- dice throwing friends to say, 'HA! I'm prepared for the end of the world! I Tarzan, you- Zombie meat!' |
well thought out and mature 'zombie Lit'
| Customer Rating: | For anyone who is starting to grow tired of the new Zombie cycle in culture, World War Z should safisfy as a departure from the usual.
The fresh take is that unlike most zombie stories, WWZ goes far beyond the initial outbreak, and unlike Romero, the epidemic is viewed on a global scale, not just middle-America.
This may be a detraction for those who want a more horror-centric, flesh feast. But that card has been played out ad nauseum. It takes far more ambition to attempt what Max Brooks has done.
The only detractions I can pick at is the anecdotal style doesn't vary much, so many chapters have similar patterns. Also, the characters met in the book have very similar speech patterns, and usually all talk in a rhetoric that fails to provide much room for character development. Finally, a few scenarios feel a bit far fetched, such as one where an armed militia forms an assault line and literally walks across the US to clear out the undead. Logistically, this would be one hell of an undertaking, and would probably take decades to accomplish with a fairly unorganized and resource starved society in a post-apocalypse.
Minor gripes aside, this is a farily fresh take on the genre, who's real fear factor is not being eaten by a zombie, but surviving the collapse of our interdependent global state, and the many conflicts across the world in the present that could use the plague as a catalyst for all out war on their enemies. |
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