World War Z

It has been nearly twenty years since the start of the apocalyptic worldwide pandemic known as the Zombie War, and about ten years since the war has ended in humanity's victory. The framing device for the novel follows Max Brooks, author of the Zombie Survival Guide (referred to simply as "the civilian survival guide" in this book) and agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission, as he travels the world interviewing survivors of this zombie plague.

Although the exact origin and cause of the plague is unknown, a young boy from a village called Dachang in Chongqing, China is identified as the outbreak's official patient zero. The zombies of this setting are slow-moving, with no intelligence or senses, but with almost superhuman strength and a primal drive to consume living flesh (for reasons unknown, they possess the ability to tell the difference between the living and the dead). Infected corpses have a greatly reduced rate of decomposition, are immune to damage by most chemical means such as from freezing or sea water, and can only be killed permanently by destroying the brain.

China initiates a military crisis with Taiwan to distract from their attempts to contain the initial outbreaks. However, the plague continues to spread to neighbouring nations by human trafficking, refugees and the black market organ trade. Initially these nations are able to cover up their smaller outbreaks, until a much larger outbreak in South Africa brings the plague to public attention. At this point, the public and governments around the world begin to refer to the plague as "African Rabies", as most believe the zombies to merely be humans infected with a new strain of rabies rather than the living dead.

As the infection spreads, Israel abandons the Palestinian territories and initiates a nationwide reverse cordon sanitaire, closing its borders to everyone except uninfected Jews and Palestinians, leading to a civil war. The United States does little to prepare because of its overconfidence in its ability to suppress any threat, and the desire to not cause a panic during an election year. Although special forces teams contain initial small-scale domestic outbreaks, a widespread effort never starts: the US is deprived of political will by "brushfire wars", and a widely distributed and marketed placebo vaccine, Phalanx, creates a false sense of security.

After a journalist reveals that Phalanx does nothing to prevent zombification, and that the infected are not victims of rabies but rather walking corpses, an event known as the "Great Panic" begins. Order breaks down around the globe as countries discover the true severity of the catastrophe, and it is estimated that more people died due to the Great Panic than due to the infection. With entire lands overrun by the undead, panicked refugees by the millions move all over the world searching for safety. Meanwhile, in the Middle East, war erupts as Iran attempts to stem the flow of refugees from Pakistan, resulting in a nuclear exchange which obliterates both countries. Russia forces a decimation of its own military to prevent mutinies. Ukraine uses its stockpile of chemical weapons against large numbers of refugees and soldiers alike to root out the infected from the uninfected population as zombies, unlike humans, are unaffected by nerve gas.

After zombies overrun New York City, the US military sets up a high-profile defense in the nearby city of Yonkers with the hope that a great display of military power may help restore public order. The "Battle of Yonkers" is a disaster, however; modern weapons and tactics prove ineffective against zombies, which have no self-preservation instincts, feel no pain, and can only be stopped if shot through the head. The unprepared and demoralised soldiers are routed on live television. Other countries suffer similarly disastrous defeats, and human civilization teeters on the brink of collapse.

In South Africa, the government adopts a contingency plan drafted by apartheid-era intelligence consultant Paul Redeker, known as the Redeker Plan. It calls for the establishment of small Safe Zones, leaving large groups of survivors abandoned in special zones as human bait, serving as a distraction to the undead and allowing those within the main safe zones time to regroup and recuperate. Governments worldwide assume similar plans which prove successful. The United States government establishes its Safe Zone west of the Rocky Mountains and directs those left behind to evacuate north, giving no other direction or instruction. As zombies freeze solid in extreme cold, many panicked and unprepared civilians in North America flee to the wildernesses of northern Canada and the Arctic, where eleven million people die of starvation and hypothermia. Meanwhile, several astronauts stranded aboard the ISS witness the profound environmental impact of the war, as fires around the world envelop the planet in a thick shroud of smoke.

After the US government relocates to Hawaii and its Safe Zones are well established, all aspects of civilian life are devoted to supporting the war effort; people with skills such as carpentry and construction find themselves more valuable than people with managerial skills. General morale begins to increase for the first time since before the Great Panic, as manufacture of pre-war goods such as electronics and processed foods restart and the military evolves to better combat zombies. Civilians both West and East of the Rocky Mountains begin to find purpose in their lives again.

Seven years after the outbreak began, a conference is held off the coast of Honolulu, aboard the fifty-year-old USS Saratoga, where the new United Nations headquarters are located. Most of the world's leaders argue that they can outlast the zombie plague by staying in their safe zones while the zombies rot away. However, the US president argues for going on the offensive, and a general vote results in many countries either voting "no" or "abstain" while the remainder decide to attack.

Determined to lead by example, the US military reinvents itself to meet the specific strategic requirements of fighting the undead. Backed by a resurgent US wartime economy, the military begins the three-year-long process of retaking the contiguous United States from both the undead swarms and groups of hostile human survivors. Other nations that voted to attack go about their own offensives: Russia, its armories badly-depleted, resorts to using large stores of World War II-era tanks, firearms, flamethrowers and ammunition, waging a costly offensive against the undead by brute force. The United Kingdom takes a slow-but-steady approach, taking until five years after the official end of the war to finish clearing its territory. France, set on restoring its pride and reputation after embarrassments and defeats going back to World War I, charges headlong against the undead, its armed forces displaying extreme valor at an extraordinarily high cost. An unnamed British Army general comments as the war ends that there are "enough dead heroes for the end of time."

Ten years after the official end of the Zombie War, millions of zombies are still active, mainly on the ocean floor or on snow line islands. Cuba has become a democracy and hosts the world's most thriving economy. Tibet is freed from Chinese rule, which in turn becomes a democracy as well, and hosts Lhasa as the world's most populated city. Following a religious revolution, Russia is now an expansionist theocracy and adopts a repopulation programme, keeping the nation's few remaining fertile women as state broodmares. North Korea is completely empty, with the entire population presumed to have disappeared into underground bunkers or been wiped out in the outbreak. Iceland has been completely depopulated and, due to its lack of a properly equipped military force and the huge influx of infected refugees, remains the world's most heavily infested country.

The situation in the British Isles is not entirely clear in the novel. The Pope and members of the British Royal Family had fled to Ireland (specifically Armagh) and the Isle of Man, following the military retreat to the Antonine Wall, and now exports oil from a reserve under Windsor Castle where the Queen held out for the war's duration, refusing to flee with her relatives. In France, the Palace of Versailles was the site of a massacre and has been burned to the ground; military losses were particularly high clearing the catacombs underneath Paris, because the catacombs housed nearly a quarter of a million refugees during the early stages of the war, all of whom became zombies.

The Israelis and Palestinians have made peace, and the former occupied territories have been renamed "Unified Palestine". Mexico is now known as "Aztlán". Several countries are described as having revised borders due to the "dumping" of convicts into infected zones; these convicts rose to command "powerful fiefdoms" that later became independent states. A so-called "Pacific Continent" appears to encompass previously uninhabited islands as well as ships rendered immobile due to lack of fuel. For unknown reasons, the Saudi Royal Family have destroyed the oil fields in Saudi Arabia.

The United Nations fields a large military force to eliminate the remaining zombies from overrun areas, defeat hordes that surface from the ocean floor, and kill frozen zombies before they thaw. Life on Earth is hinted at being brought to near extinction, including the extinction of most aquatic life. Overall quality of life on earth for those who remain is much less than it was before the war, with diminished life expectancy, limited access to running water and electricity, and an ongoing nuclear winter, the combined result of the nuclear war, the fires caused during the Great Panic, and the advent of fire as humanity's primary source of warmth. 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 bodies reanimated by an incurable virus (Solanum), devoid of intelligence, desirous solely of consuming living flesh, and cannot be killed unless the brain is destroyed. It is said that the undead contain a black, foul pus-like liquid instead of blood. Decomposition will eventually set in, but this process takes longer than for an uninfected body and can be slowed even further by effects such as freezing. 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 are incapable of planning or cooperation in their attacks. Zombies usually reveal their presence by moaning.[2]

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.[3] Brooks also cites the US Army as a reference on firearm statistics.[4]

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."[10] 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.[15] 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."[9] 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.[5] 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."[16] 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."[17]

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."[6] Drew Taylor of the Fairfield County Weekly credited World War Z with making zombies more popular in mainstream society.[18]

The hardcover version of World War Z spent four weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list, peaking at number nine.[19][20] By November 2011, according to Publishers Weekly, World War Z had sold one million copies in all formats.[21]

Random House published an abridged audiobook in 2007, directed by John Mc Elroy 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.[12]

On May 14, 2013, Random House Audio released a lengthier 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. A separate, additional audiobook containing only the new recordings not found in the original audiobook was released simultaneously as World War Z: The Lost Files: A Companion to the Abridged Edition.[22]

In June 2006, Paramount Studios secured the film rights for World War Z for Brad Pitt's production company, Plan B Entertainment, to produce.[27] The screenplay was written by J. Michael Straczynski, with Marc Forster directing and Pitt starring as the main character, UN employee Gerry Lane.[28][29]

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.[30] Filming commenced mid-2011, and the film was released in June 2013.[31]

• List of zombie novels
• Midway Studios – Newcastle, who worked on a cancelled video game adaptation of the book in 2008[32]

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