“World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War,” is one of our favorite books here at I Love Libraries headquarters.
Max Brooks’ epic novel is set in an alternate 21st-century in the years following a zombie apocalypse and follows a United Nations agent as he travels the world collecting stories from survivors representing a cross-section of humanity: doctors, artists, soldiers, parents, politicians, and more. The book reads like an official report created for future generations to study, but it’s smart, riveting, and terrifying. “World War Z” is part Studs Terkel, part George A. Romero. It’s also been banned in China and some U.S. states.
In a recent installment of his Banned Book Club, MSNBC’s Ali Velshi sat down with Brooks to learn why “World War Z” has been banned and to break down the message of the book, exploring why it inspires fear not just in the reader, but also in those in power.
“The story is one of survival, but ‘World War Z’’s themes are really human shortsightedness, the power of fear, the fragility of modern life, and the necessity of humanity in the face of chaos,” says Velshi. “It is these ideas that make the novel a target for book banning. It exposes weakness and criticizes politically expedient decision-making. Looking back now after the Covid 19 pandemic … it’s no wonder that regimes that fear accountability and critical thinking would ban ‘World War Z.’”
Check it out below!
Take action
Alarmed by the escalating attempts to censor books? Here are six steps you can take now to protect the freedom to read.
- Follow news and social media in your community and state to keep apprised of organizations working to censor library or school materials.
- Show up for library workers at school or library board meetings and speak as a library advocate and community stakeholder who supports a parent’s right to restrict reading materials for their own child but not for all
- Help provide a safety net for library professionals as they defend intellectual freedom in their communities by giving to the LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund.
- Educate friends, neighbors, and family members about censorship and how it harms communities. Share information from Banned Books Week.
- Join the Unite Against Book Bans movement and visit our Fight Censorship page to learn what you can do to defend the freedom to read in your community
- Become a Supporter of the American Library Association and help ALA fight for libraries and everyone’s freedom to read.
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