World War Z, by Max Brooks
Lori Hamrick
April 29, 2010
Filed under Arts & Entertainment
America’s obsession with vampires is easy to see, but the recent and sudden obsession with zombies is difficult to ignore. Movies like Resident Evil, comedy films like Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland, and games like the Resident Evil series and the Left 4 Dead series are spreading in popularity, and with this craze comes the zombie infestation of literature. Steven King’s latest novel Cell tells the story of a small town plagued with the undead. Even classic literature like Jane Austen is not safe, and has fallen victim to authors like Seth Grahame-Smith, who wrote the mash-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
First known for his Zombie Survival Guide, Max Brooks is no stranger to the New York Times bestseller list. The Zombie Survival Guide quickly became a favorite of fans obsessed with cult-classic zombie movies and ironic zombie comedy. His 2006 novel World War Z is a documentary-style exploration into a worldwide undead infestation and the measures taken to save the human race.
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is not a simple undead horror story. It is told from the perspective of a United Nations investigator interviewing those who played crucial roles in surviving the war, such as theorists, soldiers, and the teams assigned to the use of resources and to the post-war cleanup. These accounts are transcripts of oral interviews, and they use the flesh-eating terror to ironically criticize poor government reaction and cooperation, while relating on a personal level with stories of fear and survival.
The book begins by describing the panic that occurred when the world began to find out about the infestation. Many countries suffered huge gains and losses in population, and borders were nearly impossible to maintain. Efforts were made to prevent the spead of the disease, but they were futile. As the infestation spread worldwide, theorists devised calculated plans for withdrawing to distant places and abandoning the masses, only taking people that were necessary for their survival. Eventually, as technology adapted, efforts to change the course of the war were made. Eventually, successful battles were fought, and the rebuilding of society began.
A movie version of the book has been the works for quite some time. While some feel that the movie will ever actually made, Brooks assures readers that progress is being made.
Max Brooks brilliantly twists together a classic horror concept with thinly veiled commentary on social and political strengths and shortcomings, making World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War a must read for fans of the flesh-eating undead, criticism of the world’s political structures, or both.
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