World War Z - Max Brooks

If society is ever going to learn from its mistakes it must make sure that it studies its own history. With the 70th anniversary of the start of WW2 the number of people who were there and can still tell their tales is diminishing. Therefore, we must interview and preserve as much of this living history as we can to help prevent another world war. Historians have used primary sources as a means of study for centuries and as someone interested in modern history I am a firm believer of asking the source. What would happen though if another war did occur? The history would be written by the victor and would probably skirt over the biggest atrocities. If a new world ...  Read the complete review

Ok, so the worst has happened and the dead are returning to life, mindlessly tracking down the living to add to their ever growing numbers. A formidable and terrifying enemy without fear, emotion, empathy or biological needs who join in huge herds to overcome human resistance. Rotting hordes have infested urban areas and have driven the human race to isolated pockets of 'safety'. What would happen to the world and how would you cope as an individual if faced with the undead? Max Brooks is already responsible for the Zombie Survival Guide (a must read for the individual in a zombie infestation scenario), but in World War Z he takes a global overview of the world during ...  Read the complete review

'It began with rumours from China about another pandemic. Then the cases started to multiply and what had looked like the stirrings of a criminal underclass, even the beginnings of a revolution, soon revealed itself to be much, much worse. Faced with a future of mindless, man-eating horror, humanity was forced to accept the logic of world government and face events that tested our sanity and our sense of reality. Based on extensive interviews with survivors and key players in the 10-year fight-back against the horde, World War Z brings the very finest traditions of American journalism to bear on what is surely the most incredible story in the history of civilization.' ...  Read the complete review

Supposedly, the war is over. I mean, technically it is and has been for ten years, but there are still millions of zombies active across the globe and, each year, cleanup crews venture far and wide, mopping up the infestation where they can. Billions are (un)dead and each survivor has their own story... Author Max Brooks writes from the perspective of an inspector in a United Nations Post-War Commission who has been given permission by his superiors to write a book documenting the war (which is set in the near future) because the official report was heavily censored. As such, the novel is told from a series of viewpoints by people who were active ...  Read the complete review

This book is breathtaking. World War Z is written as the gathered collections of survivors of the 'Zombie War'. Set ten years after the war, the book recounts tales from all over the world, from the first outbreaks, to the 'Great Panic', to humanity's attempts to fight back. The Zombie War takes place at some indeterminate point in the near future. Written from several different angles, the book manages to thoroughly investigate this fictional war. It may seem that such an idea as a zombie war is absolutely ridiculous, however Max Brooks manages to keep the reader on the edge of their seat with plausible explanations and reactions. This style of ...  Read the complete review