World War Z

The novel is framed around a series of interviews conducted by a fictionalized version of the author Max Brooks, author of The Zombie Survival Guide, (known in-universe as the "Civilian Survival Guide") as he travels the world a decade after the end of what is most commonly referred to as the "Zombie War."

The pandemic begins twenty years previously in the early 21st Century, with the infection of a boy in a village in Dachang, China; the release of the virus, referred to as "Solanum" in The Zombie Survival Guide, is implied to have been caused by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. The Politburo initially covers up the outbreak by engineering a military crisis with Taiwan to avoid appearing weak internationally, but thousands of infected quickly spread the virus outside of China through immigration, human trafficking, and the organ trade.

The virus spreads to Cape Town, South Africa, where the first major public outbreak occurs, leading to the virus initially being dubbed "African rabies." A Mossad agent publishes a report detailing the undead threat and recommending countermeasures, but Israel is the only country to take it seriously. The United States in particular is overconfident and distracted by an upcoming election, responding only by deploying small special operations teams to temporarily contain isolated outbreaks. Israel, meanwhile, responds by enacting a policy of voluntary quarantine in which it ceases occupying the Palestinian territories, evacuates Jerusalem, and constructs a wall along the demarcation line established in 1967.

The government also offers asylum to any Palestinian living in the formerly occupied territories, and any Palestinian whose family previously resided in Israel. These policies spark a civil war by enraging the Israeli religious right, though the uprising is eventually suppressed by the IDF. Worldwide, a widely marketed placebo vaccine named Phalanx creates a false sense of security. This period later becomes known as the "Great Denial."

The following spring, an unnamed journalist reveals the uselessness of Phalanx and the truth of Solanum, sparking a crisis later dubbed the "Great Panic" in which global order collapses, with rioting, breakdown of essential services, and indiscriminate culling of citizens killing more people than the zombies themselves. Russia forces a decimation of its military to end rampant mutinies. Ukraine uses VX gas on refugees and its own citizens in an attempt to weed out the infected. Iran and Pakistan destroy each other in a brief nuclear exchange over a refugee crisis. When the US military stages a high-profile battle in Yonkers, New York, their conventional warfare tactics prove futile against the overwhelming horde of zombies, and the military is routed on live television. The catastrophe causes the US president to suffer a nervous breakdown, resulting in the Vice President and his cabinet invoking Section 4 of the 25th Amendment and forcibly removing him from office.

The US government evacuates west of the Rocky Mountains and establishes a new capital in Honolulu, Hawaii. The ISS remains crewed by three astronauts who volunteer to not return to Earth; its commander observes miles-wide "mega swarms" of zombies stretching across Central Asia and the Great Plains. The fallout from the Iran–Pakistan War, as well as the millions of global fires sparked by the crisis, creates a nuclear winter. Knowing that zombies freeze solid in extreme cold, many ill-prepared North American civilians flee into the wilderness of northern Canada, where an estimated eleven million people die of disease, hypothermia, starvation, and cannibalism. Paul Redeker, a former intelligence consultant for the apartheid-era South African government, develops a drastic survival strategy that designates large groups of humans as unwitting bait, distracting the undead to give safe zones time to fortify themselves and build up resources; most countries go on to adopt the controversial plan.

Four years later, during a United Nations conference held off the coast of Honolulu aboard the recommissioned USS Saratoga, the United States declares its intention to go on the offensive against the undead, inspiring other countries to follow suit. Determined to lead by example, the US military reinvents itself to more effectively combat zombies as, without a vaccine, every last one must be destroyed to end the pandemic—automatic weapons and mechanized infantry are replaced by semi-automatic rifles and volley firing, soldiers are retrained to target the head over the torso and maintain steady rates of fire, and troops are equipped with body armor designed to protect from infection via zombie bites or bodily fluids. The United Kingdom constructs fortified, elevated motorways to enable easier travel throughout Great Britain while the hordes of undead are being cleared. A new martial art known as Mkunga Lalem, translating to "the Eel and the Sword", is invented specifically to fight zombies.

The contiguous United States is liberated three years after the Honolulu Conference, and global victory is declared after another two years upon the liberation of China, although the British military does not fully liberate London until three years after "Victory in China Day" due to its prioritization of low casualties. Russia, its armories badly depleted, is forced to heavily employ the use of outdated Great Patriotic War-era equipment while waging a costly, brute-force two-front war. France, desiring to restore its national pride and reputation after its humiliating defeats in the Battle of France, Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, and Algerian War, prosecutes its campaign of the war more aggressively than its Western allies. The US president dies, most likely from heart failure caused by extreme stress, toward the end of the war.

Ten years after Victory in China Day, the world is still heavily damaged, but slowly on the road to recovery. Tens of millions of zombies remain active, mainly on the ocean floor, mountains above the snow line, and in arctic areas; the United Nations fields a large force to eliminate them. Iceland remains completely zombified, as its cold weather and lack of military made it the most vulnerable country to the undead. Following a religious revolution sparked by rampant suicide within the Russian military during the war, Russia has become an expansionist theonomy intent on annexing the former Soviet republics, and has adopted a repopulation program under which the nation's few remaining fertile women are used as state broodmares.

North Korea remains quarantined as its entire population mysteriously vanished at the beginning of the pandemic, presumed to have fled into vast underground fallout shelters while remaining ignorant to the end of the zombie threat; fears that the population are now zombified have so far prevented reunification. Cuba has become a capitalist democracy possessing the world's largest GDP. Tibet has become independent from China and hosts Lhasa as the world's most populous city, and China has democratized following a second civil war sparked by the collapse of the Three Gorges Dam. Several new, unnamed countries have emerged due to wartime governments expelling convicts into infested zones, with many of these criminals surviving and going on to establish their own independent "fiefdoms."

The overall quality of human life has diminished, including shorter life expectancies, limited access to running water and electricity, and the resurgence of diseases like the Spanish flu. Many animals have gone extinct due to overhunting, pollution, or being killed by the undead. Fossil fuels are scarce, with petroleum from the Middle East becoming practically nonexistent after Saudi Arabia destroyed its oil reserves for unknown reasons during the war; sailboats have returned as the most common seafaring vessels. Nevertheless, the majority of those who have survived have hope for the future, knowing that humanity faced the brink of extinction and won.

Brooks designed World War Z to follow the "laws" set up in his earlier work, The Zombie Survival Guide (2003), and explained that the guide may exist in the novel's fictional universe.[1] The zombies of The Zombie Survival Guide are human corpses reanimated by an incurable virus with a one hundred percent infection and mortality rate. They are devoid of intelligence, desire solely to consume living flesh, and cannot be killed unless the brain is destroyed. The blood of the undead has coagulated, causing it to appear as a black, sludge-like substance.

Decomposition will eventually destroy a zombie, but this process takes longer than for an uninfected body and can be slowed even further by cold weather. Zombies are also somehow capable of functioning after being unfrozen, and are unaffected by the extreme pressures on the ocean floor. Although zombies do not tire and are as strong as the humans they infect (though they appear to be slightly stronger due to lack of normal restraint), they are slow-moving and incapable of planning or cooperation in their attacks, though zombies can hear and are attracted by the moans of other zombies, potentially creating a "chain swarm."

Max Brooks (right) with George Romero at San Diego Comic-Con 2007

Brooks discussed the cultural influences on the novel. He claimed inspiration from "The Good War": An Oral History of World War Two (1984) by Studs Terkel, stating: "[Terkel's book is] an oral history of World War II. I read it when I was a teenager and it's sat with me ever since. When I sat down to write World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, I wanted it to be in the vein of an oral history."[1] Brooks also cited renowned zombie film director George A. Romero as an influence and criticized the Return of the Living Dead films: "They cheapen zombies, make them silly and campy. They've done for the living dead what the old Batman TV show did for the Dark Knight."[1] Brooks acknowledged making several references to popular culture in the novel, including one to alien robot franchise Transformers, but declined to identify the others so that readers could discover them independently.[1]

Brooks conducted copious research while writing World War Z. The technology, politics, economics, culture, and military tactics were based on a variety of reference books and consultations with expert sources.[2]

Reviews for the novel have been generally positive. Gilbert Cruz of Entertainment Weekly gave the novel an "A" rating, commenting that the novel shared with great zombie stories the use of a central metaphor, describing it as "an addictively readable oral history."[8] Steven H. Silver identified Brooks' international focus as the novel's greatest strength and commented favorably on Brooks' ability to create an appreciation for the work needed to combat a global zombie outbreak. Silver's only complaint was with "Good-Byes", the final chapter, in which characters get a chance to give a final closing statement; Silver felt that it was not always apparent who the sundry, undifferentiated characters were.[13]

The Eagle described the book as being "unlike any other zombie tale" as it is "sufficiently terrifying for most readers, and not always in a blood-and-guts way, either."[7] Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club stated that the format of the novel makes it difficult for it to develop momentum, but found the novel's individual episodes gripping.[3] Patrick Daily of the Chicago Reader said the novel transcends the "silliness" of The Zombie Survival Guide by "touching on deeper, more somber aspects of the human condition."[14] In his review for Time Out Chicago, Pete Coco declared that "[b]ending horror to the form of alternative history would have been novel in and of itself. Doing so in the mode of Studs Terkel might constitute brilliance."[15]

Ron Currie Jr. named World War Z one of his favorite apocalyptic novels and praised Brooks for illustrating "the tacit agreement between writer and reader that is essential to the success of stories about the end of the world ... [both] agree to pretend that this is not fiction, that in fact the horrific tales of a war between humans and zombies are based in reality."[4] Drew Taylor of the Fairfield County Weekly credited World War Z with making zombies more popular in mainstream society.[16]

The hardcover version of World War Z spent four weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list, peaking at number nine.[17][18] By November 2011, according to Publishers Weekly, World War Z had sold one million copies in all formats.[19]

Random House published an abridged audiobook (5 hours 59 minutes) in 2007, directed by John McElroy and produced by Dan Zitt, with sound editing by Charles De Montebello. The book is read by Brooks but includes other actors taking on the roles of the many individual characters who are interviewed in the novel. Brooks' previous career in voice acting and voice-over work meant he could recommend a large number of the cast members.[10]

On May 14, 2013, Random House Audio released a lengthier (12 hours 9 minutes) audiobook titled World War Z: The Complete Edition (Movie Tie-in Edition): An Oral History of the Zombie War. It contains the entirety of the original, abridged audiobook, as well as new recordings of each missing segment. Twenty additional actors read the added segments.

A separate, additional audiobook containing only the new recordings not found in the original abridged audiobook was released simultaneously as World War Z: The Lost Files: A Companion to the Abridged Edition.[20] Its length is 6 hours 13 minutes.

In June 2006, Paramount Studios secured the film rights for World War Z for Brad Pitt's production company, Plan B Entertainment, to produce.[26] The screenplay was written by J. Michael Straczynski, with Marc Forster directing and Pitt starring as the main character, UN employee Gerry Lane.[27][28]

Despite being the draft that got the film green-lit, Straczynski's script was tossed aside. Production was to begin at the start of 2009, but was delayed while the script was completely re-written by Matthew Michael Carnahan to set the film in the present – leaving behind much of the book's premise – to make it more of an action film. In a 2012 interview, Brooks stated the film now had nothing in common with the novel other than the title.[29] Filming commenced mid-2011, and the film was released in June 2013.[30]

• List of zombie novels
• Midway Studios – Newcastle, who worked on a cancelled video game adaptation of the book in 2008[31]

Wikiquote has quotations related to World War Z.

• Official website
• World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database