Play Audiobook Sample
World War Z: The Complete Edition (Abridged): An Oral History of the Zombie War Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(4.67) - 3 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Prepare to be entranced by this addictively readable oral history of the great war between humans and zombies.”—Entertainment Weekly
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 is the only record of the apocalyptic years.
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, 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.
THE INSPIRATION FOR THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
“Will spook you for real.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Possesses more creativity and zip than entire crates of other new fiction titles. Think Mad Max meets The Hot Zone. . . . It’s Apocalypse Now, pandemic-style. Creepy but fascinating.”—USA Today
“Will grab you as tightly as a dead man’s fist. A.”—Entertainment Weekly, EW Pick
“Probably the most topical and literate scare since Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds radio broadcast . . . This is action-packed social-political satire with a global view.”—Dallas Morning News
Download and start listening now!
“A sober, frequently horrifying and even moving account…Brooks has delivered a full-blown horror novel, laced with sharp social and political observations and loads of macabre, gruesome imagery…The real horror of World War Z comes from the all-too-plausible responses of human beings and governments to the menace.”
— Fangoria
Quotes
-
“Possesses more creativity and zip than entire crates of other new fiction titles…Creepy but fascinating.”
— USA Today -
“Prepare to be entranced by this addictively readable oral history of the great war between humans and zombies…Will grab you as tightly as a dead man’s fist.”
— Entertainment Weekly -
“Probably the most topical and literate scare since Orson Welles War of the Worlds radio broadcast…This is action-packed social-political satire with a global view.”
— Dallas Morning News -
“Brooks [is] America’s most prominent maven on the living dead…ChillingIt is gripping reading and a scathing indictment of weak responses to crises real and over-hyped.”
— Hartford Courant -
“The best science fiction has traditionally been steeped in social commentary. World War Z continues that legacy…We haven’t been this excited about a book without pictures since—well, since ever.”
— Metro -
“Each story locks together perfectly to create a wonderful, giddy suspense. Brooks also has the political savvy to take advantage of any paranoia a modern reader might feel…The perfect book for all us zombie junkies.”
— Paste -
“This infectious and compelling book will have nervous readers watching the streets for zombies.”
— Library Journal -
“A horror fan’s version of Studs Terkel’s The Good War…Like George Romero’s Dead trilogy, World War Z is another milestone in the zombie mythology.”
— Booklist -
“[Brooks’] iron-jaw narrative is studded with practical advice on what to do when the zombies come, as they surely will. A literate, ironic, strangely tasty treat.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -
“World War Z provides us with a starting point, at least, a basic blueprint from which to build a popular understanding of how, when, and why such a disaster came to be, and how small groups and individuals survived.”
— Jeb Weisman, PhD,director of strategic technologies at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness
Awards
-
A New York Times bestseller
-
Nominated for the 2012 Abraham Lincoln Award
-
A USA Today bestseller
-
Winner of a 2007 Audie Award
-
A Washington Post bestseller
-
A Los Angeles Times bestseller
-
Winner of Audie Awards, 2014
World War Z: The Complete Edition Listener Reviews
-
—
LA.YAM, 11/21/2022
-
—
Matthew M. , 10/29/2022
-
—
Thomas Stang, 1/26/2021
About Max Brooks
Max Brooks is a senior nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point and the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. His bestselling books include Minecraft: The Island, The Zombie Survival Guide, and World War Z, which was adapted into a 2013 movie starring Brad Pitt. His graphic novels include The Harlem Hellfighters.
About the Narrators
F. Murray Abraham is an American actor. He became widely known during the 1980s after winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Antonio Salieri in the 1984 film Amadeus. He has appeared in many roles, both leading and supporting, in such major films as All the President’s Men and Scarface and the award-winning television series Homeland. He has also acted on Broad and Off-Broadway and won numerous awards for his work in theater, film, television, and audio recordings. He has also received lifetime achievement awards and has been inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Alan Alda is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and author. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he played Hawkeye Pierce for eleven years in the television series M*A*S*H and has acted in, written, and directed many feature films. He has starred often on Broadway, and his avid interest in science has led to his hosting PBS’s Scientific American Frontiers for eleven years. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005 and has been nominated for thirty Emmy awards.
René Auberjonois is an American stage, film, television, and voice actor and an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. After graduating from Carnegie-Mellon University, he acted with various theater companies, including San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater and Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum. In 1969, he earned a Tony Award for his performance as Sebastian Baye alongside Katharine Hepburn in Coco. Since then, he has acted in a variety of theater productions, films, and television series, in addition to being active in radio drama.
Becky Ann Baker, narrator and actress, has received critics’ praise for her readings of books by such authors as Stephen King, James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, Iris Johansen, and Karin Slaughter. She has performed in numerous roles on Broadway, starring in Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins. Her many television credits include Girls, Smash, and Nurse Jackie, and her film credits include Spider-Man 3, The Discoverers, and Hope Springs.
Dennis Boutsikaris is a two-time OBIE award winner. He has received five Audie Awards and seven Golden Earphone Awards for his work in over 100 audiobooks and was voted one of the Best Voices of the Year by AudioFile magazine. He has appeared in numerous Broadway, television, and film roles. He played Mozart on Broadway in Amadeus and has appeared on television shows including Shameless, The Good Wife, House M.D., Grey’s Anatomy, ER, and Law & Order.
Jim Meskimen is a stage, film, and television actor who has appeared in many well-known movies and television shows. He acted in Apollo 13 and Frost/Nixon for director Ron Howard, both of which were nominated for Best Picture Oscars. His television appearances include The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Friends, Lie to Me, Criminal Minds, and Parks and Recreation. He is also a painter, award-winning audiobook narrator, and audiobook director for Galaxy Audio.
Mel Brooks, director, producer, writer, and actor, is one of the few entertainers in an elite group to earn all four major entertainment awards: the Emmy, the Grammy, the Oscar, and the Tony. In 2009 he was a Kennedy Center Honoree, recognized for a lifetime of extraordinary contributions to American culture. In 2013 he was the forty-first recipient of the Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. In 2016 he was presented with the National Medal of Arts by President Obama. His career began in television writing for Your Show of Shows, after which he helped create the TV series Get Smart. He and Carl Reiner wrote and performed the 2000 Year Old Man Grammy-winning comedy albums. He won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for his first feature film, The Producers. Many hit comedy films followed, including The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, History of the World Part I, To Be or Not to Be, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. His film company, Brooksfilms Limited, produced critically acclaimed films such as The Elephant Man, Frances, My Favorite Year, and 84 Charing Cross Road.
Bishop T. D. Jakes is one of the world’s most widely recognized pastors and a New York Times bestselling author of over thirty books. Named by Time magazine as “America’s Best Preacher,” his message of healing and restoration is unparalleled, transcending cultural and denominational barriers. Jakes is the founder and senior pastor of The Potter’s House, which has a congregation of over thirty thousand. His weekly television outreach, The Potter’s House, and his daily television program, The Potter’s Touch, have become favorites throughout America, Africa, Australia, Europe, and the Caribbean. Jakes lives in Dallas with his wife, Serita.
Maz Jobrani is a founding member of the Axis of Evil comedy tour. He performs stand-up comedy around the world, including in Europe, Australia, and the Middle East where he performed in front of the King of Jordan. He just released his third comedy special, I Come In Peace, which aired on Showtime and Netflix. Maz starred in the films Friday After Next, 13 Going on 30, and The Interpreter. He was a series regular on ABC’s Better Off Ted, which had a cult following, and he has guest starred on Curb Your Enthusiasm, 24, True Blood and Shameless to name a few. He has also given two TED talks, and he has performed his stand-up on The Tonight Show, Comedy Central, and Showtime.
Christine Lakin is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and acclaimed television actress, best known for her roles as Alicia “Al” Lambert on the hit family comedy Step by Step and as Joan of Arc on Showtime’s Reefer Madness.
Alfred Molina is an actor and winner of numerous Earphones Awards for audiobook narration. His films include Spiderman II, Frida, Magnolia, Chocolat, Boogie Nights, The Perez Family, Maverick, Enchanted April, Not Without My Daughter, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Prick Up Your Ears. He has appeared extensively on British and American television, including the TV series Bram & Alice and Ladies’ Man. He received a Tony Award nomination, a Drama Desk Award, and an Outer Critics Circle Award for his performance in Art on Broadway. He also performed on Broadway in Molly Sweeney and in Speed the Plow for the National Theatre in London.
Carl Reiner (1922–2020) was an actor, film director, producer, writer, and comedian. He received many awards, including the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He began his directing career on the Dick Van Dyke Show, and his first feature film was an adaptation of Joseph Stein’s play Enter Laughing. He also wrote a number of books, including the memoir My Anecdotal Life.
Jay O. Sanders began his acting career off-Broadway in Shakespearean roles then went on to appear in numerous films and television series, including Revolutionary Road, The Day after Tomorrow, and Kiss the Girls, based on the novel by James Patterson. He has narrated more than fifty audio books over the years, including the bestselling My Losing Season by Pat Conroy and Dean Koontz’s Dragon Tears and Mr. Murder. He also won six AudioFile Earphones Awards.
David Ogden Stiers is an American actor, director, vocal actor, and musician, noted for his roles in Disney movies, as well as his performances in the television series M*A*S*H . He has provided voice work for dozens of film and television projects, with his first work being on one of George Lucas’ earliest films, the critically acclaimed THX 1138. He went on to provide the voice for numerous Disney movies and for several television series, including documentary films produced by Ric Burns. He has also lent his voice to several video games.
John Turturro is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his wide range of roles in independent films and has appeared in over sixty feature films. He has worked frequently with the Coen brothers, Adam Sandler, and Spike Lee.