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World War Z by Max Brooks
Sci-fi

World War Z

by Max Brooks

Quick take

Released in 2006, this chilling account of a zombie apocalypse focuses more on the living than the undead.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_MultipleNarrators

    Multiple viewpoints

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_WellKnownAuthor

    Famous author

  • Illustrated icon, Icons_Brainy

    Brainy

  • Illustrated icon, Icon_NowAMovie

    Now a movie

Synopsis

We survived the zombie apocalypse, but how many of us are still haunted by that terrible time? We have (temporarily?) defeated the living dead, but at what cost? Told in the haunting and riveting voices of the men and women who witnessed the horror firsthand, World War Z is the only record of the apocalyptic years.

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, 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.

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Member ratings (1,899)

  • Kate S.

    PORT ROYAL, VA

    I am normally not a Zombie story fan, but this is not a typical Zombie story. It’s so smart and heart-breaking in that I really think it captures the reality of human nature in crisis, the good & bad.

  • John S.

    Covington, LA

    My halloween read this year. The past tense kept the scares at the right distance creating a thrilling ride without any nightmares. It was almost cathartic reading through a zombie pandemic in 2 days.

  • Carmen R.

    Frederick, MD

    I loved the journalistic approach, enhanced by the book’s organization and writing perfectly set to each multiple POV. Spellbinding and entertains as an apocalyptic zombie event can be. 1.18-19.22

  • Catherine S.

    Bennington, VT

    The structure of this book was amazing and allows for multiple perspectives of a global crisis. While it is a zombie book, it is not horror more like a drama. Really recommend to everyone as a classic

  • Teri S.

    Denver, CO

    For a book ostensibly about zombies, Max Brooks presents some sharp political insight amongst the stories of fighting unstoppable waves of the undead. The vignette style is highly readable as well.