World War Z

This book is probably the best social/political analysis book I have read this year. Its fictional, but because of its reinterpretation of society it allows a whole different perspective. More specifically, it allows a hole into the cultural problems of our personal lives and societies'. Did I mention also, its about when zombies take over the earth? World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is oddly enough not filled with the gore, bad humor, and desensitization expected with horror. Its a real story, given to you as fact. Because we all know that the undead will rise soon and you better get yourself a semi-automatic pistol or at least a shovel to kill all those G's. Man, i still dream about this sh*t - and randomly picking up this book has brought it to the imagination again.

(book intro excerpt)
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....

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.

The author Max Brooks is Mel Brooks son. From the strange minds of comedians I guess their progeny strangely evolve into mangling reality further. His first project was the oddly successful, but less narrated, Zombie Survival Guide. Besides the absurdity of his story in WWZ (which could still tottally happen), Max does a beautiful job of intimately detailing the connections of military, government, business, and religion throughout this entire book by fictionally retelling the stories of survivors. My personal favorites are of Russian soldiers being "decimated" by their own armies after they refuse to fight, or the Japanese otaku computer geek who is stranded in his apartment building and saves himself after confronting an outside world that is even more alien than before. These respeak of dehumanizing killings in Chechnya, or hyper technological detachment - in itself a loss of humanity in tech illusions. What makes these stories real is that the characters are essentially human and their lifestyles and feelings are ones we live.

His story was inspired by the original WWII book The Good War: An Oral History of World War II by Studs Terkel. In the same way it takes into honest account those who lived through WWII. For our modern 21st century lives - without a truly connecting and unifying spirit in our nation and globe, this fictional book is a kind of identity stimulator that is sorely needed in our culture.

World War Z's main site is really fun. You can Calculate Risk of survival or death during the Zombie outbreak. I scored a measly 38% and I even live in a house with bars on the doors and windows. The other cool thing are the podcasts available on the site. An audio book was compiled as interview recording from survivors. They feature actors Alan Alda and Mark Hamill as voiceovers among others. Pretty much everything about this is high calibre.

There was a high dollar shoot out war over this books movie production rights between: Brad Pitt & Leonardo Di Caprio. WTF. This ocurred even before the book was released. Brad Pitt and his production company Plan B won the rights. I can't imagine what Tyler Durden is up to anymore. Zombies are a great threat vehicle to really assess where we're headed; i mean i haven't planned my terrorist bombing escape route, but i sure know how to survive the undead outbreak.