World War Z (2006)
Written by: Max Brooks
Synopsis
“The end was near.” —Voices from the Zombie War
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 thirty 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 twelve-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.
Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”
Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.
So I’ve heard nothing but fantastic things about this book. People proclaim this to be the best zombie book they’ve ever read, and the expectations are SO high for this book I’m a wee bit scared. That said, I’m glad I’m finally being forced to sit down and read this thing, if only to see if I like it better than Mira Grant’s Feed. 
Hopefully, better or not, the book’s going to meet our heightened expectations, right?
Remember, this post is a “reminder,” not a sign up. Why is this? Because I asked people to sign up back in 2010 for the challenge if they wanted participation points, those who signed up for the challenge will be the only ones I track. And if you’re one of those who signed up, that’s all this post is, a reminder. Because you’re automatically signed up to get points for this month, should you choose to participate. If you choose not to, that’s fine. You can comment here and tell me this month won’t work, or you don’t have to tell me at all. REMEMBER: this book challenge needs to work on YOUR time, so if you have to skip a month or two or six, that’s fine.
What if you didn’t sign up? Can you still participate? OF COURSE YOU CAN!!!! You can even tell me so here! The only difference is that before, people received participation points for signing up. This year, that’s not the case. So if you want to participate but don’t give a fig about points, read the book and join me at the end of the month for discussion. If you DO give a fig about participation points, click the link at the bottom of this post to sign up, and you’ll be good to go.
Read at the pace you feel comfortable reading. If you’ve already started, good for you! If you’ve already read the book, that’s awesome too: just come back at the end of the month for discussion (especially if you signed up for the club: reading and discussing get you points, even if you read it years and years ago!). For participation details, just click here. Discussion Date: 8/8/11
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