Title: World War Z (Adult Cross-Over)
Author: Max Brooks
ISBN: 9780770437411
Publisher: Broadway Books
Copyright: 2013 (2006)
Genre: Horror
Age
Range: 16+
Reader’s Annotation: Witness the beginning, middle, and end
of the zombie apocalypse through the stories of the people who were there.
Plot Summary: An investigator from the United Nations is
charged with compiling an oral history of the global war against zombies, World
War Z. Patient zero was believed to be a young boy infected in China.
While not the first case in recorded history, he was the first in this
pandemic. The spread begins in China
where the government implicates a crisis in Taiwan to hide the true spread. The
disease spreads to other countries from refugees and the black market organ
trade. South Africa
has the largest outbreak that begins to get global attention. Isreal inacts a
country wide quarantine and closes their boarders except for uninfected Jews
and Palestinians. Pakistan
and Iran destroy each other
with nuclear arms due to the large amount of Pakistani refugees crossing into Iran.
The United States
does little to prepare. Different special forces try to put out zombie hot
spots, but the spread is too quick to quell the mass amount of zombies. A placebo
vaccine is created and distributed with disastrous results. The Great Panic
begins and the major cities like New
York are infested with zombies. The United States military sets up a defensible
position in Yonkers.
When the zombies come, the Battle of Yonkers is a disaster due to the
ineffective tactics and weapons of modern warfare. Zombies have no self-preservation
instincts and can only be stopped if shot through the head. Soldiers are
demoralized, and the rest of the world seems to be suffering a similar fate.
Human civilization might be extinguished.
A South
African intelligence consultant, Paul Redeker, calls for a new strategy. Large
groups of survivors will be grouped together in safe, or green, zones. The plan
included the evacuation of islands, like Japan,
Hawaii, and Australia, and other isolated
places to safe zones in other countries or territories. Because zombies freeze
solid, many Americans moved toward the northern boarder. Unprepared, many suffered
starvation and hypothermia. Cannibalism is implied by a few interviews due to
the shortage of food. The three remaining astronauts on the International Space
Station were able to survive by salvaging supplies from other space stations,
satellites, and fuel pods. The describe the swarms of zombies that could be
seen from space on the American Great Plains and Central
Asia. The United States
eventually establishes a foothold and clears the land on the west of the Rocky Mountains and spend the next ten years clearing the
surrounding regions from zombies.
The decade
is described as a total war era. Food and fuel are rationed, victory gardens
are grown, and people are given jobs that are needed, not desired. The maid who
used to clean a rich woman’s house is now teaching that rich woman how to clean
a toilet as her superior. Skilled labor is valued once again. In the seventh
year of the war, a meeting of world leaders on the USS Saratoga discuss
their shared fate. Most countries would rather cower in their safe zones, but
the United States
wants to go on the offensive. The United States Military comes up with the old
strategy of volley firing at a close enough range to get head shots. Soldiers
will be covered from head to toe with Kevlar as not to be bitten and given a
battle axe-shovel tool for close-quarters combat. The strategy works in the
second Battle of Yonkers that begins to drain New York. The next three years consist of
taking back the continental United
States from zombies and humans that have gone
feral or anti-government.
Ten years
after the war in America
has ended, there are still millions of zombies walking the ocean or frozen in
snow. The world is now different. Cuba
is the largest banking country, China
has expanded into former Japan,
and Russia
is now a theocracy. The whole country of North Korea is empty and no one
knows how. There are no humans on Iceland but plenty of zombies. The British Isles seem untouched due to their isolation. France suffered heavy losses in refugees and
military while clearing the Paris
catacombs. Israel and Palestine have combined
into United Palestine. The United Nations is now in charge of the eradication
of zombies internationally from the ocean beaches to frozen tundra. The human
race was close to extinction.
Critical Evaluation: This book by Max Brooks could be an
important adult crossover. With a subject like this, it would encourage boys to
read. While it has not won any awards, it has made a run on the New York
Bestseller’s list and is constantly in circulation. The real value is found in
the adolescent male demographic. This is a book that might inspire a young male
to read more, even if it is just continuing in the horror genre. The book is
very well done and brings up a variety of different points of view. When mass
events happen, there is not just one perspective. This book implies that there
will always be more than one perspective on an event. Additionally, the use of
this book has been noted by the Centers for Disease Control in their own
website encouraging people to be prepared for disasters, including a zombie
apocalypse.
Author Information: Max Brooks is the bestselling author of
"World War Z", "The Zombie Survival Guide" and its graphic
companion, "The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks." His new
comic book series, "The Extinction Parade" is available in print from
Avatar Comics and can be downloaded from Comixology.com. His upcoming graphic
novel "The Harlem Hellfighters" will debut in April of 2014 from
Broadway Books. Source - http://maxbrooks.com/bio.php
Curriculum Ties: History; Science; Sociology
Challenge Issues: Violence; Language
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