World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
by Max Brooks
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Book Summary Information
Author: Max BrooksEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-10-16
ISBN: 0307346617
Number of pages: 342
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780307346612
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Book Review: Surprisingly Deep and Creative Thoughts on the Strategic Aspects of Battling the Undead
Summary: 5 Stars
I was expecting something lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek, a global melee of headshots and brain-eating--in the vein of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a zombie take on General Sir John Hackett's 80s classic The Third World War--yet was very pleasantly surprised to find instead this deep, well thought out fictional oral history, a collection of interviews and short memoirs of survivors of the global zombie war (this is a future history, a la Kunetka and Strieber's still surprisingly comparable War Day. It holds together very well, and is very interesting and thought-provoking.
First off, there is no attempt whatsoever to explain the scientific basis for zombies, which is just as well. We know only that they came out of mainland China, strongly implying an avian influenza-type mutation, or at worse military medical-chemical experimentation gone really wrong. Coming up with some kind of zombie science, of course, would be a self-defeating exercise, inventing necessarily ridiculous and bogus medical/scientific descriptions, which in the end would subtract from the true power of these (fictional) oral histories. This book is not about the origins and rise of the global zombie threat, it's about how mankind reacted. It really doesn't matter why/how the zombies emerged; they did, and the far more interesting story is how mankind couldn't imagine it, ignored it, initially failed to address it, and eventually rose to the challenge.
This book takes on most of the big-picture issues of what a global zombie war would involve and affect. It talks strategic decision-making, unpleasant sacrifices, economic effects, military strategy, operations and tactics, as well as communications and the role of propaganda, politics and international relations, with some unanticipated nuclear exchange thrown in for fun. But the one issue I was really hoping Brooks would take on, that he would have some of his narrators latch onto and wrestle with, was religion. Disappointingly, religion didn't get a thorough treatment. Brooks touches on it here and there, but never fully confronts and tackles it. World War Z sure as hell ain't The Rapture, but it's a resurrection, and not the good kind. So what does this do the Big Three belief systems, and how do they fare? What new beliefs come about, and how do they evolve and then grow/fade?
I really enjoyed Brooks' deep exploration on the true nature of the zombie enemy, and how to beat him. He's not bright, fast, or thinking rationally, but he never ever stops, with no pain, remorse, ethics, morals or fear, so our humano-centric military doctrine goes right out the window. The zombie is a "...self-contained, automated unit...;" there is no reasoning with him, and no single or collective will to fight to target and cripple. The only option is eradication, and it has to be done with proper training and equipment. Brooks spends lots of time on this, and it is very engaging reading.
And because they're already dead, water is no problem for zombies. They can't swim, so they sink, or more correctly, sort of wander around the bottom, and if the water gets shallow, they can come on up and grab you. I never thought of that before, but Brooks sure does explore it, in a number of fascinating ways. But the narrative went a bit off the rails here. We saw on land that animals would not go zombie (zombie raccoons, bears, coyotes, deer would have made it really interesting), so it was unclear--and not addressed--if sharks or other sea predators would have a carnivorous go at zombies, and if you would then end up with Great White zombies (isn't that a Danish thrash-metal band?). Wouldn't that be awesome, a horde of zombie sharks? I see a wide-open opportunity for the zombie fiction oceanographer...and an enterprising B-movie producer...
Lots of people and organizations get a grilling, and some folks get good press. The underfunding of the FDA is decried. Vapid celebrities like a certain unnamed "...little rich, spoiled, tired-looking whore," and her idiot-ilk get what they deserve, from zombies and an enraged human populace. Military greats MacArthur, Halsey and LeMay are called "...insipid, egocentric clowns..." Political decisions are implicitly criticized, such as any number of US "brushfire wars." A certain Vermont "whacko" (Howard Dean, mayhaps?) gets a lot of time, most of it positive. Colin Powell (apparently) comes through as The Man, President of the United States, and REM's Michael Stipe apparently makes it through.
Brooks is good on his terms and equipment, getting the use of "ChiCom," "maskirovka" and many others right, as well as just about perfect descriptions of almost every modern weapon system and their employment. His geography is spot-on.
Great to see a name-check of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. I played rugby with and against these guys in Germany in the 80s. We even get a mention of the Tri-Nations tournament and a notional trouncing of the All Blacks by the Springboks, and later another All Black mention. Good on ya, Mr. Brooks.
And in the end, what did it all mean? For those who survived, it was a forced return to the vitality and reward of life, having to be aware and alert, having had to defend globally against a common enemy for survival, and a forced return to a simpler, significantly more empty planet. It wasn't about starting over, but still a fundamental re-set. In the end, it was a cleansing, with the weak and ignorant culled without mercy, an undead Malthusian solution.
Bottom line: this book is surprisingly inventive, creative, and fun, and the value-added is that it's really well thought out, an almost scholarly meditation on what it really would be like if the dead were to rise. This book does not read like some idiotic first-person shooter video game; instead it's a thoughtful exploration of what it would really be like if the zombies came.
Summary of World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
?The end was near.? ?Voices from the Zombie WarThe 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
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