World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
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World War Z, by Max Brooks
You can’t very well have a list of zombie novels without the big kahuna. Brooks exposes us to the zombie apocalypse through rotating perspectives from interviews with survivors around the globe. (Unlike in the film adaptation, Brad Pitt is not actually the center of humanity’s struggle.) What makes World War Z feel like one of the most complete novels in the zombie canon is its attention to detail and its thoroughness in exploring every aspect of a global response to such a plague, including the geopolitics that enable an outbreak. This level of obsessive dedication should come as no surprise, of course. Brooks first displayed it in the wry The Zombie Survival Guide, which details strategies for fighting off the undead and recorded attacks throughout history.
We survived the zombie apocalypse, but how many of us are still haunted by that terrible time? We have (temporarily?) defeated the living dead, but at what cost? Told in the haunting and riveting voices of the men and women who witnessed the horror firsthand, World War Z, now a #1 New York Times bestseller, is the only record of the plague years.


























