World War Z

An Oral History of the Zombie War

By: Max Brooks

Narrated by: Max Brooks, Alan Alda, John Turturro, Rob Reiner

Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

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 from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of 30 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.

Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the 12-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.

©2006 Max Brooks (P)2006 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Winner of Audio Publishers Association 2007 Audie Award, Multi-Voiced Performance
• Audie Award Finalist, Audiobook of the Year, 2007

"Hard to put down." (Publishers Weekly)

"A literate, ironic, strangely tasty treat." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Horror fans won't be disappointed: like George Romero's Dead trilogy, World War Z is another milestone in the zombie mythos." (Booklist)

The movie was better

I heard a lot of reviews of this book and was pretty excited to read it before I saw the movie. It was an interesting concept, documenting the aftermath of a zombie apocolypse, but the endless stream of unrelated journalistic stories ended abruptly, just as it was getting a little tiresome. I was disappointed.

Not sure why they named the movie World War Z, as the story line did not follow any of the accounts in this collection of post apocalyptic news, but for once, I enjoyed the movie better than the book.

Loved the book in print ...

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend the listen because of the diversity of voices in this performance. The fact the book is an "oral history", it translates very well to audio. The disappointing element of this audiobook is it is abridged. I am really looking for the follow-up with all the chapters. This audiobook is great, but it is just incomplete without the rest of the chapters.

Would you be willing to try another book from Max Brooks? Why or why not?

Yes ... absolutely

This is what the movie should have been.

It's chilling, gripping, and authentic, with voice actors with appropriate accents. It it World War Z at it's best, even easier to listen to than the paper version had been in my honest opinion. As a whole, World War Z is a powerful, moving story. It engages the audience in a realistic variation of the fantastic, where zombies really become a true terrifying threat in modern day society. It takes political, economic, historical, and scientific spins, with a vast collection of stories told by so many perspectives and lots in life it is staggering. From the corruption of the Russian government to China and it's problems to the Great Panic and the underprepared American people, World War Z stands as a classic and mind-expanding tale. With it's frequent discussion of governments and social structures in other nations, it is an extremely impressive work.

New Customer

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Great book from a amazing writer..Audio download, overall quality, and ease of access is 5 stars across the board. Keep up the great offers an quality.

-Thank You

What did you like best about this story?

How the Zombie outbreak/war was told by worldwide personal interviews of people that lived it, survived it, and, how it changed the world.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

How he reported the story in a non-bias recount. Just Great fiction writing again by Max brooks

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Zombie aficiandos will enjoy.

Would you listen to World War Z again? Why?

Great zombie book. Trailers for the movie look disappointing as there appears to be a lot of screenwriter deviation from the book.

I liked this better on paper.

What did you like best about this story?

Max Brooks wrote an excellent story. The setting, perspective, and action beats are all amazing.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Several of the readers seemed to be performing poor caricatures of their parts. It wasn't offensive, but it wasn't what I wanted.

Why abridged???

This book was wonderful, did not want it to end. But could there not be an unabridged version??

Wonderfully Human

This is a must listen. The cast of performers is wonderful...I think I even heard Jurgen Prochnow in there as the Tank Commander. The story itself is well written and the humanity in them is both painful and touching at times. This is not standard Zombie fare.

Not clearly marked as abridged!

I loved this book when I read it a few years back and thought I'd enjoy hearing it again, but was disappointed to realize at the end that many of my favorite parts had been left out! Where was the interview with the feral girl? And I loved the story the young Japanese teen told about escaping his high-rise apartment, and the story of the Indian soldier who blew up a bridge or pass to stop the zombies from following the refugees, and the tour of the ocean floor, and what about the trained dogs? I felt cheated when I got to the last chapter and realized these stories were all omitted. This book's abridgment should be more clearly highlighted!

World War Z...a zombie documentry

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I'd recommend this book to a friend because it has a very documentary feel to it. The performance by the voice actors was also very, very good.

What other book might you compare World War Z to and why?

I'd compare this book to "Killer Angels" because both books had the historical feel that these major events had transpired. In Killer Angels it was based on actuality while World War Z was based on fictional accounts.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrators give the book more of a movie feel to it rather than my inner voice.

Who was the most memorable character of World War Z and why?

I forgot her name but the Pilot that was trapped was the most memorable character. Her story was very compelling. That and the little twist at the end was great!.