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)

Great for fans of post apocalyptic literature!

The full cast narration, really helps to actually make the characters seem like real people.

Great!

I enjoyed everything about this. The voice acting made the book feel more than alive.

Fantastic Book

A really inventive way to cover the subject matter it covers. it goes over a lot of things I never would have considered in a zombie apocalypse. Great performances all around. Love it!

Great perspective

There are moments in this book where what isn't said is more important than what is. It's a really good, solid, story. I recommend it to anyone who is into the apocolyptic fiction genre.

A stellar cast!

The fact that they use multiple different people to tell the stories was amazing! I loved all the different perspectives and the story itself was very well written.

Ugh. Abridged Version.

What did you like best about World War Z? What did you like least?

The story was fantastic, but I really wish I would have noticed this was the abridged version before I bought it. I don't get why abridged versions even exist. If I'm reading (or listening) to a book, I want the whole story. If I only wanted part of it, I would have grabbed the Cliff's Notes version.

Would you recommend World War Z to your friends? Why or why not?

They book: Yes. The audiobook: probably not. There was no point in making this an abridged version.

Was World War Z worth the listening time?

This was absolutely worth the listening time since it was incredibly short, but wouldn't at all say it was worth the purchase price.

A convincing performance

An incredible book. I feel compelled to buy the paper edition and all the performances are neat and convincing. Amazing.

Incredible story telling.

I've listened to this book more than once. It has to be one of the most well thought out zombie books ever written. It is for sure an inspiration to many other books written after this one was written. The voice acting was what really hooked me. It has a full cast with people all over the world being inverviewed after a war with the undead. Awesome! Worth the money for the download.

Awesome...just wish for an unabridged performance

This was wonderfully immersive listening experience; my only regret is that several sections were removed from this performance.

Not aware this is the abridged version

Can’t find the full version on here and really want to listen to it. Loved the book but they need to make it available.