| World War Z | |
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The cover of World War Z |
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| Author(s) | Max Brooks |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Horror, post-apocalyptic fiction |
| Publisher | Crown |
| Publication date | September 12, 2006 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback), e-book, audiobook |
| Pages | 342 pp |
| ISBN | 0307346609 |
| OCLC Number | 65340967 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.6 22 |
| LC Classification | PS3602.R6445 W67 2006 |
| Preceded by | The Zombie Survival Guide |
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is a 2006 post-apocalyptic horror novel by Max Brooks. It is a follow-up to his 2003 book The Zombie Survival Guide. Rather than a grand overview or narrative, World War Z is a collection of individual accounts in the form of first-person anecdotes. Brooks plays the role of an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission who published the report a decade after the Zombie War. The United Nations left out much of his work from the official report, choosing to focus on facts and figures from the war rather than the individual stories that form the bulk of Brooks' novel. The interviews chart a decade-long war against zombies from the view point of many different people of various nationalities. The personal accounts also describe the changing religious, geo-political, and environmental aftermath of the Zombie War.
World War Z was inspired by The Good War, an oral history of World War II by Studs Terkel; and by the zombie films of director George A. Romero. Brooks used World War Z to comment on social issues like government ineptitude and American isolationism, while also examining themes of survivalism and uncertainty. Critics have praised the novel for reinventing the zombie genre; the audiobook version, performed by a full cast including Alan Alda, Mark Hamill and John Turturro, won an Audie Award in 2007. A film based upon the book is in production, and is set for a December 2012 release.
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Brooks designed World War Z to follow the "laws" set up in The Zombie Survival Guide, and explained that the guide may exist in the world of the novel as a precursor to the Zombie War.[1] The zombies of The Zombie Survival Guide are undead humans reanimated by an incurable virus, Solanum. They are devoid of intelligence and are motivated only by the desire to consume living flesh. The only way to destroy them is to destroy the brain, by any means. Although zombies are as strong as the humans they infect and do not tire, they are slow moving and incapable of planning or cooperation in their attacks. Zombies usually reveal their presence by moaning.[2]
Brooks did a large amount of research while writing World War Z to make the novel as realistic as possible: "Everything in World War Z (as in The Zombie Survival Guide) is based in reality... well, except the zombies. But seriously, everything else in the book is either taken from reality or 100% real. The technology, politics, economics, culture, military tactics... it was a LOT of homework."[3] Brooks used a variety of reference books and consulted with friends who were experts in several fields when writing the novel.[3] He also cites the U.S. Army as a reference on firearm statistics.[4]
Through a series of oral interviews, Brooks, as an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission, describes the history of 'World War Z'. Although the origin of the zombie pandemic is unknown, the story begins in China after a zombie bites a young boy. The Chinese government attempts to contain the infection and concocts a crisis involving Taiwan to mask their activities. The infection is spread to other countries by the black market organ trade and by refugees, before an outbreak in South Africa finally brings the plague to public attention.
As the infection spreads, only Israel initiates a nationwide quarantine and closes its borders to all but uninfected Jews and Palestinians. Pakistan and Iran destroy each other in a nuclear war after Iran attempts to stem the flow of refugees from Pakistan. The United States of America does little to prepare; although special forces teams are used to contain initial outbreaks, a widespread effort never starts as the nation is sapped of political will by several "brushfire wars", and an ineffective and fraudulently marketed vaccine has created a false sense of security. When the world recognizes the true scope of the problem, a period known as the "Great Panic" begins. The United States Army sends a task force to Yonkers, New York, in a high-profile military campaign intended to restore American morale. However, the military's use of Cold War tactics, weapons intended to disable vehicles, and demoralization through wounding: these have no effect on the zombies, which use wave attacks, have no self-preservation instinct, and can only be stopped if shot in the head and killed. The 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 plan drafted by ex-apartheid government official Paul Redeker, which calls for the establishment of small "safe zones", areas surrounded by natural boundaries and cleared of zombies. Large groups of refugees are to be kept alive outside the safe zones to distract the hordes of undead, allowing those within the safe zones time to regroup and recuperate. Governments worldwide adopt their own versions of the "Redeker Plan" or evacuate to safer foreign territory. Since zombies freeze solid in the cold, many civilians in North America flee to the wilds of northern Canada; approximately 11 million people die from starvation and exposure.
During a conference near Honolulu aboard USS Saratoga, most of the world's leaders indicate they want to wait out the zombie plague, but the United States President successfully argues that the only way to survive physically and psychologically is to go on the offensive. Determined to lead by example, the United States military reinvents itself to meet the specific challenges involved in fighting the living dead: automatic weapons and mobility are replaced by semi-automatic rifles and formation firing, troops are retrained to focus on head shots and slow, steady rates of fire, and a multipurpose hand tool, the Lobotomizer or "Lobo", is designed to destroy zombie heads close up. In two north–south lines stretching across North America, the U.S. military leaves its safe zone west of the Rocky Mountains and crosses the continent, systematically destroying the zombies and reclaiming outposts of survivors (whether they want to be reclaimed or not).
Ten years after the "official" end of the zombie war, millions of zombies are still active and the geopolitical landscape of the Earth has been transformed. A democratic Cuba has become the world's most thriving economy and the international banking capital. China has become a democracy—after a civil war sparked by a dam collapse was ended by a Chinese nuclear submarine launching intercontinental ballistic missiles at the Communist leadership—but has been vastly depopulated, while Tibet, freed from Chinese rule, hosts the world's most populated city. Following a religious revolution, Russia is now an expansionist theocracy. The refugee-inhabited islands stretching from Palau to French Polynesia has become a new nation referred to as the "Pacific Continent". North Korea is completely empty, with the entire population having disappeared underground; it is unknown if they survived or have become zombies. Iceland has been completely depopulated, and is the world's most heavily infested country. The United Nations fields a large military force to eliminate the remaining zombies from overrun areas, defeat hordes surfacing from the ocean floor, and kill frozen zombies before they thaw. Major effects of the war are a drastic reduction in the human population, which is alluded to have been brought to the brink of extinction, and the devastation of many environments and species, as much by desperate humans as by marauding zombies.
Reviewers have noted that Brooks uses World War Z as a platform to criticize government ineptitude, corporate corruption and human short-sightedness.[5][6] At one point in the book, a Palestinian youth living in Kuwait refuses to believe that the dead are rising, fearing it is a trick by Israel. Many American characters blame the United States' inability to counter the zombie threat on low confidence in the government due to conflicts in the Middle East.[7] Brooks also shows his particular dislike of government bureaucracy. One character in the novel tries to justify lying about the zombie outbreak to avoid widespread panic, while at the same time failing to develop a solution for fear of arousing public ire.[8][9] Alden Utter, a reviewer for The Eagle, notes similarities between the government's response in the novel and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: "Early warnings are missed, crucial reports go unheeded, profiteers make millions selling placebos, the army equips itself with tools perfect for the last war they fought and populations ignore the extent of threat until it is staring them in the face — this is, surprisingly, a post-Katrina zombie tale."[10]
Brooks has also criticized American isolationism:
I love my country enough to admit that one of our national flaws is isolationism. I wanted to combat that in World War Z and maybe give my fellow Americans a window into the political and cultural workings of other nations. Yes, in World War Z some nations come out as winners and some as losers, but isn't that the case in real life as well? I wanted to base my stories on the historical actions of the countries in question, and if it offends some individuals, then maybe they should reexamine their own nation's history.[1]
Survivalism and disaster preparedness are other prevalent themes in the novel. Several interviews, especially those from the United States, focus on policy changes designed to train the surviving Americans to fight the zombies and rebuild the country.[7] For example, when cities were made to be as efficient as possible in order to fight the zombies, the plumber could be a higher status than the former CEO. Throughout the novel, characters demonstrate the physical and mental requirements needed to survive a disaster.[9] In a 2008 interview, Brooks described the large amount of research needed to find optimal methods for fighting a worldwide zombie outbreak. He also pointed out that Americans like the zombie genre because they are a nation of individualists who believe that they can survive anything with the right tools and talent.[3]
Brooks considers the theme of uncertainty central to the zombie genre. He believes that zombies allow people to deal with their own anxiety about the end of the world.[11] Brooks has expressed a deep fear of zombies:
They scare me more than any other fictional creature out there because they break all the rules. Werewolves and vampires and giant sharks, you have to go look for them. My attitude is if you go looking for them, no sympathy. But zombies come to you. Zombies don't act like a predator; they act like a virus, and that is the core of my terror. A predator is intelligent by nature, and knows not to overhunt its feeding ground. A virus will just continue to spread, infect and consume, no matter what happens. It's the mindlessness behind it.[12]
This mindlessness is connected to the context in which Brooks was writing. In a July 2006 interview, he declared: "at this point we're pretty much living in an irrational time", full of human suffering and lacking reason or logic.[13] When asked in a subsequent interview about how he would compare terrorists with zombies, Brooks said:
The lack of rational thought has always scared me when it came to zombies, the idea that there is no middle ground, no room for negotiation. That has always terrified me. Of course that applies to terrorists, but it can also apply to a hurricane, or flu pandemic, or the potential earthquake that I grew up with living in L.A. Any kind of mindless extremism scares me, and we're living in some pretty extreme times.[3]
Reviews for the novel have been generally positive. Steven H. Silver identified Brooks' international focus as the novel's greatest strength. He also 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 of the book – 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.[14]
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."[9] The Eagle described the book as being "unlike any other zombie tale" and "sufficiently terrifying for most readers, and not always in a blood-and-guts way, either."[10] Keith Phipps of The Onion's 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] 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".[6] 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] Drew Taylor of the Fairfield County Weekly credits World War Z with making zombies more popular in mainstream society.[17] The hardcover version of World War Z spent four weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list, peaking at number nine.[18][19] According to Publishers Weekly, World War Z has sold 600,000 copies in all formats.[20]
In an October 2006 interview with Eatmybrains.com, Brooks discussed the cultural influences on the novel. He claimed inspiration from The Good War by Studs Terkel. Brooks stated: "[Terkel's book is] an oral history of World War II. I read when I was a teenager and it's sat with me ever since. When I sat down to write World War Z, 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]
An abridged audiobook was published in 2007 by Random House, directed by John McElroy, produced by Dan Zitt, with sound editing by Charles De Montebello. The book is read by author Max Brooks, but includes many other actors taking on the roles of the many individual characters who are interviewed in the novel. Brooks, thanks to his first career doing voice-over work and cartoons, was able to recommend a large number of the cast members.[12]
In her review of the audiobook for Strange Horizons, Siobhan Carroll called the story "gripping" and found the listening experience evocative of Orson Welles's famous narration of The War of the Worlds. Carroll had mixed opinions on the voice acting, commending it as "solid and understated, mercifully free of "special effects" and "scenery chewing" overall, but lamenting what she perceived as undue cheeriness on the part of Max Brooks and inauthenticity in the Chinese accent of Steve Park.[7] Publishers Weekly also criticized Brook's narration, but found that the rest of the "all-star cast; deliver their parts with such fervor and intensity that listeners cannot help but empathize with these characters".[22] In an article in Slate concerning the mistakes producers make on publishing audiobooks, Nate DiMeo used World War Z as an example of dramatizations whose full casts contributed to making them "great listens", and described the book as a "smarter-than-it-has-any-right-to-be zombie novel."[23] The World War Z audiobook won the 2007 Audie Award for Multi-Voiced Performance and was nominated for Audiobook of the Year.[24][25]
In 2007, the movie rights for World War Z were secured by Brad Pitt's production company, Plan B Entertainment.[26] The screenplay was written by J. Michael Straczynski, with Marc Forster directing, and Pitt starring as the main character, United Nations employee Gerry Lane.[27][28] Production was to begin at the start of 2009, but by mid-year, the script was still under development and being re-written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, and filming did not commence until mid-2011.[27][29] Initial filming occurred in Malta before moving on to Glasgow, (which was used to represent Philadelphia as uncertainty over tax credits for filmmakers caused the production team to avoid the American city).[30][31][32] Some scenes were shot in Cornwall, before production moved to Budapest in October.[33] The morning before filming commenced, a Hungarian Anti-Terrorism Unit raid seized the firearms that had been brought in for use as props, as their import had not been cleared, and, contrary to documentation, the weapons were fully functional.[34]
World War Z is to be released by Paramount Pictures on December 21, 2012.[35]