Max Brooks’: World War Z

Max Brooks’: World War Z

With the movie adaptation well on its way, it seems only fitting that I review a book suggested to me by a good friend: Max Brooks’ World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. First, I have to distinguish this book from the upcoming film. World War Z, the book, is considerably less “plot-driven” than the movie appears to be. It is, for all intents and purposes, a history book. Personally, the engaging aspect of any zombie fiction is the human response to it, which is the central point of this book. Of course, there is tons of information about how the outbreak spread, which countries fell, ect. (then again, that is the level of detail that one comes to expect from Brooks, who is also author of The Zombie Survival Guide). For all the fun that they give the reader, zombies, as monsters, can only do so much for one’s more intellectual side. It is this book’s ability to make you think that makes it shine: the entire book is one massive social commentary. Everything from government ineptitude to human short-sightedness is portrayed extensively. As you read, you begin to realize that the outrageous way in which the people in the book react to crisis is not fictional. There is nothing fictional about the humans in the book, and to be completely honest, that is more than a little scary. If you like having your eyes opened up to some of the more psychological and sociological habits of humanity, then check out Max Brooks’ World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. It isn’t a book about zombies: it’s a book about the past and possible future of humanity, set upon a backdrop of zombies for entertainment purposes (in all honesty, if you really want to freak yourself out, replace the zombies with any disease and then think about the global reaction).

Source: Jake Depew, Assistant Editor