World War Z ( my overview timeline)

Gillan1220

Gillan1220

Feline Idiot said:
I feel like the Great Panic may have been way more complicated than the book illustrates. Like, after the journalist reveals the truth about Phalanx, there'd be this period of uncertainty. People would start noticing that cases were increasing, and start questioning health officials for answers. Perhaps a week after this uncertainty, health officials and news outlets would confirm the rumors about the Solanum virus and Phalanx's ineffectiveness. Society wouldn't erupt into rioting right away, there'd be this rising fear. People would flock to the stores for supplies, but stores would be relatively calm until lines get so long that some people rush out with carts full of stolen goods. Fights would break out inside stores over canned foods. Hospitals would be locked down as they fill up with Solanum victims. This is when the actual panic would break out, ATMs being broken open, businesses shutting down, people chucking molotovs and so on. Don't forget, the Great Panic is also the point where major urban areas are overrun. Hospitals are completely overwhelmed and hordes of zombies break out, spreading throughout the city and infecting rioters. Maybe around late July, there'd be this period where major cities (e.g. New York) are overrun.

Then comes the Battle of Yonkers.

That's my perspective, anyways. The book mainly focuses on the aftermath and recovery more than the initial panic and urban outbreaks.
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You summarized it well. Just think of the 2014 and 2020 riots combined with mass looting, vigilantism, gang violence, long traffic lines, and fires breaking out.

That scene in the movie where Gerry Lane and the family looted a grocery among many others including a Newark police officer shows the collapse of society.
Mr_ Bondoc said:
Consider that September 2013 is a major problem, especially if you use The Last of Us (HBO-TV). Jakarta and its outbreak would certainly mess things up further...
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Indonesia was having its elections when the outbreak was reported in Jakarta.
 
Mr_ Bondoc

Mr_ Bondoc

Weirdly enough, consider that the Atkin's and South Beach Diets would certainly be see as survival tools as seen in The Last of Us. Things like vegan diets and baked bread would certainly be seen as spreading the solanum virus. Also consider that anyone who is part of the 1/3 of humanity that is overweight would be considered a walking target. Whether you are in Zombieland or 28 Days Later or even Last of Us, anyone who is slightly overweight would be seen as a liability...
 

Jedi Dragon

Mr_ Bondoc said:
Weirdly enough, consider that the Atkin's and South Beach Diets would certainly be see as survival tools as seen in The Last of Us. Things like vegan diets and baked bread would certainly be seen as spreading the solanum virus. Also consider that anyone who is part of the 1/3 of humanity that is overweight would be considered a walking target. Whether you are in Zombieland or 28 Days Later or even Last of Us, anyone who is slightly overweight would be seen as a liability...
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Rule Number 1: Cardio.

I could actually see at least some of the rules of Zombieland being common in this world, whether from government pamphlets or just common wisdom.
 

Feline Idiot

Feline Idiot said:
I feel like the Great Panic may have been way more complicated than the book illustrates. Like, after the journalist reveals the truth about Phalanx, there'd be this period of uncertainty. People would start noticing that cases were increasing, and start questioning health officials for answers. Perhaps a week after this uncertainty, health officials and news outlets would confirm the rumors about the Solanum virus and Phalanx's ineffectiveness. Society wouldn't erupt into rioting right away, there'd be this rising fear. People would flock to the stores for supplies, but stores would be relatively calm until lines get so long that some people rush out with carts full of stolen goods. Fights would break out inside stores over canned foods. Hospitals would be locked down as they fill up with Solanum victims. This is when the actual panic would break out, ATMs being broken open, businesses shutting down, people chucking molotovs and so on. Don't forget, the Great Panic is also the point where major urban areas are overrun. Hospitals are completely overwhelmed and hordes of zombies break out, spreading throughout the city and infecting rioters. Maybe around late July, there'd be this period where major cities (e.g. New York) are overrun.

Then comes the Battle of Yonkers.

That's my perspective, anyways. The book mainly focuses on the aftermath and recovery more than the initial panic and urban outbreaks.
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I have some evidence from the book that says the Great Panic wasn't an immediate thing. In the interview about Russia's decimation policy, Maria Zhuganova states that her camp was placed on blackout a month before the Great Panic is said to begin, "around the same time as that American newswoman broke the story," meaning that there was likely a month-long period of questioning and uncertainty before people started going crazy.
 
Gillan1220

Gillan1220

Feline Idiot said:
I have some evidence from the book that says the Great Panic wasn't an immediate thing. In the interview about Russia's decimation policy, Maria Zhuganova states that her camp was placed on blackout a month before the Great Panic is said to begin, "around the same time as that American newswoman broke the story," meaning that there was likely a month-long period of questioning and uncertainty before people started going crazy.
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The cover-ups were definitely there. Up until the Zeds started up banging on their windows, mistaken as druggies, or the like.

In one chapter of the Russian military, the Russian soldiers knew they were going against something unconventional when one soldier stabbed a captured undead specimen in the heart which did not faze it.
 
ThirdyLovesAH

ThirdyLovesAH

Feline Idiot said:
meaning that there was likely a month-long period of questioning and uncertainty before people started going crazy.
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I guess this uncertainty is like the events preceding to the COVID-19 pandemic but the governments here are losing control to cover-up the zombies because people here are now more curious what is really happening. The news in this period (I think) will contain like emergence of a new pathogen, unexplained riots across the world, and then the GREAT PANIC
 
Mr_ Bondoc

Mr_ Bondoc

One thing that isn't brought up, but COVID -19 taught us is that after the outbreak, consider that people will look for any explanation where they can blame someone or some country. Based on how everyone points to North Korea and China for the outbreak, consider that the anti-Asian racism that we see in OTL would be a lot worse. I can imagine San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, and San Diego all suffered lynchings and hate crimes...
 
BattlePig101

BattlePig101

Stretch said:
I've posted this elsewhere before, but here's an in-character leftist review of the book, and the reviewer has Some Things to say about the blatant biases within it.

forums.sufficientvelocity.com

Lets Read: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

A survivor of WWZ reads the book "WWZ" as the in-universe oral history it purports to be. She has some disagreements.
forums.sufficientvelocity.com forums.sufficientvelocity.com
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Thanks for sharing this! I've always been a fan of WWZ, and I was aware it had some problems but this specifically has given me a few new things to think about.
 
Mr_ Bondoc

Mr_ Bondoc

Consider that the immediate border states of India, Russia, South Korea, Nepal, Myanmar (Burma), Bangladesh, Vietnam, Uighurstan, Kazakhstan, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, and Hong Kong would certainly want to take their "pound of flesh" from China. Even if it was an accident, all of the nations mentioned will demand reparations or some piece of territory. Just consider this is despite the fact China is now basically a piece of Tibet.
 

The Champion

I think that for McCain to beat Obama it has to be a victory in the Electoral College and a very close one, like 270-268, because if the recession still occurs then only the Electoral College will be able to elect McCain, because the popular vote is destined to stay behind Obama.
 
Gillan1220

Gillan1220

The Champion said:
I think that for McCain to beat Obama it has to be a victory in the Electoral College and a very close one, like 270-268, because if the recession still occurs then only the Electoral College will be able to elect McCain, because the popular vote is destined to stay behind Obama.
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I'm not really familiar with American politics. One user here suggested a possible POD is McCain being elected, which causes Iran to develop their own nuclear weapons. Remember McCain had a hawkish stance to America's adversaries.

Plus, the POD of WWZ dates back to 6,000 B.C. if you count the Recorded Attacks section of ZSG.
 
Whiteshore

Whiteshore

Gillan1220 said:
One user here suggested a possible POD is McCain being elected, which causes Iran to develop their own nuclear weapons. Remember McCain had a hawkish stance to America's adversaries.
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And on that note, the President at the start of World War Z is stated to be a Republican of some sort, especially with the talk of his government being a continuation of the Bush Administration.
 
Gillan1220

Gillan1220

Whiteshore said:
And on that note, the President at the start of World War Z is stated to be a Republican of some sort, especially with the talk of his government being a continuation of the Bush Administration.
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I love how Brooks made the real-life politicians and celebrities' identities as ambiguous. One has to read the context clues.

The lines "last bushfire war" and "fresh from the desert" was obvious point to the Iraq War, which as of the novel's publishing date, was in a state of a civil war. It was also the time there was a troop surge into Iraq to bring the country back into stability.

Like I said earlier on this thread, there's no way Brooks would have known that Obama would have become the president in two year's time. Obama in 2006 was still a junior senator from Illinois. He only announced his run in February 2007, yet people thought he would drop earlier since he wasn't really that prominent yet.
 
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