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World War Z

First edition cover
Author	Max Brooks
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Horror, Satirical novel
Publisher	Crown
Publication date	September 12, 2006
Media type	Print (Hardback/Paperback), Ebook, Audiobook
Pages	352 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0307346609

World War Z (abbreviated WWZ) is a novel by Max Brooks which chronicles the fictional titular "Zombie World War". It is a follow-up to his previous book, The Zombie Survival Guide. The book was released on September 12, 2006; a movie based on it is in the pre-production stage.

Contents 1 Plot summary 1.1 Characters 1.2 Major epochs of World War Z 1.2.1 Pre-War 1.2.2 The Beginning 1.2.3 The Great Panic 1.2.4 Turning the Tide 1.2.5 Post-War 2 Audio book 3 Film adaptation 4 References 5 External links

The book charts a war against the undead from global pandemic to mass panic, and then to an armed struggle to reclaim the planet. Rather than a grand overview or a single perspective, World War Z is instead a collection of individual accounts, each revealing an aspect of the larger plot and simultaneously presenting a very personal tale. These different accounts take the form of interviews. The book draws from post-apocalyptic and zombie literature. "The Great Panic" chapter describes the rout of civilization in a similar manner to H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds. The tales cover many genres -- the story of a Chinese admiral who spent the war on a submarine would fit easily among techno-thrillers. The viewpoint is not exclusively American, but focuses on the global nature of the struggle. This use of small personal tales creates a patchwork tapestry of the larger events unfolding in the book. Brooks addresses current issues such as environmentalism, the War on Terrorism and international health care. He also offers an interesting juxtaposition between the modern world and that of postwar Earth. For example, Cuba becomes the world's leading economy, Great Britain becomes a major producer of oil, and Tibet becomes the most populous country. This vision of a postwar Earth is startling in its contrast to that of today. It is implied that tribal groups such as South American Indians, Zulu of Southern Africa and Māori of New Zealand fared surprisingly well. One character relates an anecdote about how 500 Māori took on half of the Auckland horde, using traditional tribal weapons, and did much better than the world's various military forces or Western civilians.

Main article: Characters in World War Z

The book consists of a series of more than forty personal accounts from war survivors.

Brooks breaks down the zombie war into a series of distinct chronological periods according to the changing state of events and attitudes towards the situation:

Brooks uses the term "pre-war" to refer to the time before the first infection of the Class Four outbreak (see Zombie Survival Guide), which is the main focus of the novel. The pre-war world largely reflects the modern real world. Some events that Brooks refers to in the pre-war take place in the near future.

China witnesses the first reported outbreaks: refugees carry the virus to other nations. Maintaining the environmental theme of the book, the first outbreak occurs at a village now submerged as a result of the Three Gorges Dam. It is theorized in the book that the outbreak was the result of germ warfare research by the Chinese government that went out of control. China fears that other countries might see the zombie outbreak as a sign of weakness, so China fakes a buildup of invasion forces with Taiwan as the presumed target. As the plague spreads through Africa, it is first referred to as "African rabies" or "jungle rabies."

Some military and intelligence organizations begin to identify the threat, but most world leaders dismiss the possibility of a large scale outbreak or the presence of a virus that would reanimate the dead. A pharmaceutical developer sells a vaccine ("Phalanx") for the zombie virus, earning a fortune. However, Phalanx is only a vaccine against real rabies, not the zombie virus. "Alpha Teams" are deployed by the US government to combat isolated infestations. The combined effects of the cold weather and Alpha Teams reduce the number of zombie outbreaks, and with Phalanx perceived as an effective vaccine, the populace is lulled into a false sense of security. However, by spring the zombies become more active with warmer weather, and soon begin to overwhelm government response. A female journalist breaks the news that Phalanx is useless against the virus. This alerts the public, but also leads to mass hysteria.

The only nation during this period to take effective measures against the spread of the virus is Israel, which enacts a voluntary quarantine, and builds a massive perimeter wall around the entire country.

The Great Panic is the name given by Brooks to the time of mass hysteria surrounding humanity's awareness of the reality facing them. The Panic begins when the infection starts to overrun countries in Europe and the Western Hemisphere. Refugees escaping from blighted areas help to speed up the rate of infection in other nations. At the same time, the undead begin to outnumber the living in Africa and India. The number of zombies begins to increase exponentially, and combined with the mishandling of news coverage by the media, the first that many typical middle-class suburban Americans know of the undead threat is when zombies come crashing through their living room windows.

Many in North America migrate to northern Canada, hoping to put themselves beyond zombie territory. They are also motivated by the knowledge that zombies are immobile in an icy environment, but few of them have enough material or skill to survive a sub-Arctic winter.

The peak of the Great Panic is the Battle Of Yonkers, where the U.S. military planned to reassure the American people by attacking and eliminating the bulk of New York City's zombie infestation. The military units assigned to Yonkers were given the latest in military hardware and technology, and the media hyped the battle up to be an easy win. Unfortunately, the number of zombies in the area was grossly underestimated, and poor military planning resulted in a disaster, i.e. mostly high-tech anti-tank weapons were used against the infantry-based zombies, or as one soldier put it: "who needs stealth bombers against an enemy that doesn't have radar?". The battle was a complete "victory" for the zombies, demonstrating that even the greatest, coordinated efforts of the military could not stop the zombies. The result was that the public watched half of the United States military being slaughtered on live television. The American people, after seeing the pinnacle of their technology "fall flat on it's hyper-tech ass", loses hope in its government, devastating the national morale and marking the end of a coherent American response for some time. Less than two weeks after Yonkers, the eastern United States is abandoned in a massive retreat by the military to establish a new defensive line at the Rocky Mountains. For several weeks, near-chaos reigned as the zombies increased in number exponentially and those east of the Rockies were left to their fate.

While they struggle to find a way to reclaim their homeland, the death rate keeps going up because of ADS, formally known as Asymptomatic Demise Syndrome, but commonly referred to as Apocalyptic Despair Syndrome, a condition where people just give up their will to live because "tomorrow will only bring more suffering".

The Redeker Plan is developed by a South African ex-Apartheid government official, Paul Redeker, and copied by other nations (with varying names and details). Due to danger of infection and low resources, it is determined that not everyone can be saved. Redeker explains that the plan originated as a response to the worst-case scenario for the Apartheid government, full-scale rebellion by the native African majority. "Safe zones" are to be established for some civilians based on geographic barriers (mountains, islands, rivers, etc.) and cleared of all zombies by military personnel. However, other inhabited zones are used as live zombie bait -- set up to draw zombies away from the safe zones and allow the people there time to regroup.

During this time following the Great Panic, the United States restructures its government, military, and civilian population. The seat of the government is moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, and the majority of surviving Americans are encamped west of the Rockies. Old military battle tactics such as firing lines and infantry squares are resurrected, and melee weaponry becomes commonplace. Armor supports are restricted only for use against rebels, and the Air Force's only operations are resupply missions. Army SGT Todd Wainio narrates these developments in combat. He not only tells of how dangerous fighting zombie hordes was but he also describes various hazards such as wild beasts, feral humans, mental stresses and breakdowns which he and his fellow soldiers faced. Examples of these hazards include how many humans will breakdown to a point where their animal instincts take over. Other times people who are not infected will go into such a downfall in their mental stability that they begin to act like zombies. SGT Wainio also mentions the extremely high presence of doctors and psychiatrists monitoring their behavior. Extreme mental breakdowns vary but are all life threatening. One special case tells of SGT Wainio's squad clearing a suburban area when one of his squad members commits suicide upon entering a house, which is later discovered to be the home of that squad member.

Changes in civilian life include a drastic change in class structure. United States government personnel see celebrities, reporters, business executives, and other former media working civilians as useless in aiding reconstruction unless they are trained. Former workers and tradesmen become most desirable for the task of rebuilding and aiding America and are treated better.

During this period, all major cities are retaken. The majority of temperate and tropical areas are cleared. Many zombies remain in cold areas (such as Finland, Iceland, and Siberia), where the undead are frozen solid over much of the year; cleanup must be done during the brief summer thaw. These heavily infested areas are known as "White Zones". Bodies of water are also dangerous -- there are millions of undead under water which occasionally make it to land. The most heavily infected area other than the ocean floor is Iceland, due to a pre-war lack of military resources and an abundance of infected refugees. Many species of whales become extinct due to their harvest to support massive floating groups of people.

World War Z significantly alters the geopolitical and economic landscape. In particular, many governments collapse, and the political ties between certain nations grow stronger. One result of the war is a final peace settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Another is the emergence of Cuba as the leading nation in terms of economy, becoming the "Capitalist pigs" they had once hated. Russia also goes through dramatic changes in its government. The former republic reverts to a religious empire ruled by a Tzar. It is mentioned that during The Great Panic, the country is in a incredible economical struggle and the peoples have found new hope in the Russian Orthodox religion and a controlling political figure. The extent of how far back Russia has reverted is mentioned when a priest carries out executions using a World War II pistol on a person that is "infected". In reality the church is a symbol of totalitarian power with a Tzar once again as the head of power. China was the last country to be "liberated" and suffered the worst, its population dropping from over a billion to only several hundred thousand, due to the Politburo's refusal to implement the Redeker plan. The result was that the army eventually mutinied in a civil war which left China a democracy.

The environmental effects of the war also hold great portent for the countries emerging from the depths of the war. The effects of just how drastic the environment has changed after World War Z is described to be the same as if a full nuclear exchange between the United States and Russia had occurred. This paints a scene in which the post war world is much like a post apocalyptic cold war scenario.

The abridged audio book is read by author Max Brooks and a full cast, including Mark Hamill, Alan Alda, Henry Rollins, Rob Reiner, and Carl Reiner. The audio book was published by Random House Audio, directed by John McElroy, produced by Dan Zitt, with sound editing by Charles De Montebello. The audio book was awarded with the 2007 Audie Award for best Multi-Voiced Performance.^[1] Around half of the material in the book was omitted, mostly because of time constraints.^{[citation needed]}

A film adaptation is in development after the rights were obtained by Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment, with the screenplay being written by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski.^[2]

• World War Z official website
• World War Z at the Internet Movie Database