World War Z Explored - Part 2 : Blame, and the Great Panic

[@robotrannicthesurprisingly9085]

Something that I find you do exceptionally is using compelling narration to both get us invested in the story of these novels and then the science behind it.

[@acetrainer3240]

He did a great job with that in his Primal videos too

[@lordteapot9740]

cope ​@@acetrainer3240

[@microphone_styxosaurus7078]

Dude, you ripping the dinguses interviewed in the book to shreds is always hilarious, thanks for making such a great series!

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

And thank you for watching!

[@bennygohome4576]

Yeah, brooks sure does a good job tearing down those strawmen

[@shadowpoet4398]

@bennygohome4576 - _high five_

[@Sithari_XAOS]

The only complaint that I have so far about your WWZ series is the feral girl being interviewed who talked about the church and how you didn't mention how she perfectly (or as close as a human can get) recreates the sounds she heard. Breaking windows, dying screams, the interviewer in the book gets very real fear and anxiety from how realistic her zombie moans are.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Perhaps I should have indeed included that - Sharon's chapter is one of the best in the book but didn't translate well to my video with little to really analyse and losing a lot of its impact in third person.

[@kevinmora8551]

Her experience, I think, is kinda referenced in one of the last chapters about them clearing a church in Kentucky that showed them killing all the children first

[@jondorr4011]

​@@kevinmora8551Can't say I remember that part but I'll definitely have to go back and try to find it. Do you happen to remember what chapter it was in?

[@jondorr4011]

Seriously, this is one of the most gut wrenching parts of the book. I don't think it was until my second read-through that I realized her mom was trying to kill her.

[@paulandreig.sahagun34]

​@@jondorr4011Or that Pastor's wife that freaking she smashed that girl to the wall with pure fear, paranoia and adrenaline..like a 40 pounds Body pillow...

[@drchickengie2403]

I remember that the first time I readed the part of the book with all the people trying to get away in the road with the cars stuck and the zombies walking around I was precisely on a bus in my way home after school, and I started to get so terrified thanks to my imagination of being precisely on that situation! Even in the books they mention a car that had horses on it being moved by the zombies who wanted to reach the animals inside and in that precisely moment a car with horses passed by! I guess this is just an example of why I love that book so much and I gratefully thank you for speak about it, I hope to see more soon!!

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

More to come! And the zombie survival guide similarly spooked me out when I read it as a kid too, with the knowledge of how doomed I was if they arose.

[@Jurasicktrap]

A yes, almost another hour of good ol' zombie lore

[@austinames9340]

As divisive as the tactics of Yonkers may be, it was still one of the book's highlights as it's always nice to see the US military portrayed as not invincible and a force that CAN be defeated if not careful (Speaking as an American myself). Sidenote: Once you're finished with WWZ, I think a video discussing the Sasquatch in Devolution would be very intriguing too! I read the book after you mentioned it in your JWD video and I greatly enjoyed it as well! It'd be great to hear your own take on what Sasquatch would be like evolution and ecology-wise if (keyword being IF) they exist(ed).

[@gimzod76]

Ah yes devolution where a pack of poor sasquatch are murdered by a bloodthirsty group of feral us liberals.

[@dalekrenegade2596]

The story of Yonkers is even better when hear it through Mark Hamill's voice. I got and read Devolution a long while ago. Too be honest I wasn't that impressed it from what little I remember. It felt like another woodsman get hunted by monsters story. At least the main setting of a post volcanic eruption helped it stand out a bit.

[@spinosaurusstriker]

The american military has been wiped out in almost every movie even in the ones when they are supposed to be glorified, its not the plus people think it is , in independence day , a very pro military film , most of America gets wiped out and 99% of the world's military got destroyed, only by sheer luck and the intelligence of a nerd they could defeat the aliens.

[@NERDSLAYERPRIME]

Bumping for Devolution, really compelling read and particularly good fit for this channel

[@seeleagent]

It’s bad writing, full stop. Very obvious he consulted no one and wanted to specifically write a narrative where the American military fails and it’s rebuilt in his image.

[@charnelhousedog2394]

Yeah, Yonkers might not be the most realistic thing in the world, and it feels like Brooks somewhat underestimates the danger other zombies would present to crippled zombies simply by mindlessly walking over them, breaking bones, and causing other injuries that reduce their biting potential, but it serves its thematic purpose pretty damn well. But well, if we are talking about fighting zombies on a large scale, one weapon that could potentially be useful against large classical-style (stupid, slow, needs to have its brain destroyed in order to be killed) zombie hordes could be airdropped flechettes or lazy dog bombs; they are cheap to manufacture, easy to deliver if you have access to any sort of flying machine, should be pretty effective against extremely tightly packed hordes, and have no UXO concerns because they are literally just bits of shaped metal with no explosive material in them.

[@butttpooop4107]

Yeah it’s definitely a great story beat and I wouldn’t change it but it is a little hard to suspend my disbelief when the other stories are so grounded

[@MultiNaruto900]

The context behind Yonkers was basically a whole lot of military grandstanding. Like yeah, there are non-explosive options but it doesn't bring out the same impact from the public like explosions do. At the same time, I'm not 100% sure what the logistics look like because an army is only as good as their logistical support. Yonkers may have been a "kill two birds with one stone" ordeal in the eyes of the upper level guys. Well, three birds actually if they intended the world to send a message that America can expend this much firepower despite a zombie outbreak. Honestly, I want to reread the book now lmao

[@95keat]

He also ignores that in order for tendons to work, and therefore allowing your arms and legs to move, they have to be intact. Same for the spine. It doesn't really matter if you hit the brain or not the bullets and shrapnel are going to completely immobilize these things and explosives will work perfectly fine on the brain and muscles as it will any organ.

[@MultiNaruto900]

@@95keat Yeah, it was pretty obvious from the explanation of the disease that it tries to keep the traditional zombie explanation. Then again, the book was published in 2006 and _The Last of Us_ was released in 2013. In terms of pure spectacle, it works. A lot of the information is given in the form of personal accounts, which gives some leeway to dramatization due to how the event impacted their memory of it.

[@95keat]

@@MultiNaruto900 I like most parts of the book but the great panic section seems like a have your cake and eat it segment. The zombies are designed to be realistic (or at least as much as is possible while still having the concept) so that he can make realistic scenarios which is what makes the book compelling. But at the same time the zombies have to be weak enough that under equipped survivors can adapt and make new societies without getting wiped out, while also being strong enough that they make an over equipped military useless. It's like they are fighting an entirely different version of the zombie at Yonkers. Or zombies completely surrounding a church without anyone realizing when a zombie can only slowly walk.

[@dominiqueodom3099]

I swear,the memory that sticks with me is the story of the mom seeing her daughter in danger and how its described. A combination of mom Blacking out from the Adrenaline,and something described as one of those rare moments where a mom lifts a car to save her kid when she rips its head off. Such a great moment

[@lazyquahog9385]

I’m guessing Brooks is a fan of this trope as something similar happens in Devolution

[@kainepeterson6638]

The whole POINT of Yonkers is that no one is thinking clearly or logically. They’re human. They aren’t infallible. They make bad calls. Whoever was in charge of Yonkers made some terrible mistakes. It’s true, I get it. Suspending disbelief that the US Military could get crushed is hard. But y’all also gotta remember: it was something like 5000 dudes, who have already lived thru more than a year of zombies existing and 3 months of the Great Panic vs an incalculable number of zombies that can only die to headshots. They’re already on the back foot. They’re already primed for panic and traumatized. There’s some hard mother fuckers in the us military for sure, but no one could have prepared them for “3 million zombies descending on their position.” AT BEST if you give the US 10,000 troops, that means each soldier would have to kill 300 zombies. They were outnumbered and outgunned. The enemy was an unstoppable force and the US believed themselves the immovable object, but they were very much not. What I believe Brooks was trying to say with Yonkers is that the Military as it exists is not the be-all-end all solution our leaders treat it as. There are so many other options that could benefit everyone. Because at the end of the day it’s human ingenuity and smarts and perseverance that win the war, not land warrior or F35s.

[@baneofbanes]

And smarts and perseverance don’t mean shit without a weapon.

[@う手ェべっ時]

Thank you. I’ve been trying to get that same point about Yonkers, the battle was meant to show that the US military while a powerful and well trained and equipped and even capable fighting force is still not invincible. The Zombies in WWZ essentially changed the way the Armed Forces combat doctrine and battle tactics in order to achieve victory, while yes their modern weapons and tactics were still well suited and effective. The Zombies and their massive hoards of Undead don’t really comply with the ways of war

[@SilentTraveller21]

​@baneofbanes smarts and perseverance creates those weapons

[@mikeyplays9677]

Also people underestimate humanity's stupidity and hubris. They had news crews on the front lines and the world got a first hand look at how fucked they all are. People one town over didn't even evacuate I believe. For some, running was too late

[@wilburforce8046]

Them losing or being cocky isn’t what’s hard to believe, it’s the idea that they didn’t bring enough munitions which is blatantly told to us in the novel. It wasn’t just on the field error someone forgot basic math.

[@zolundlee]

God, these stories are heartbreaking. Your narration is perfect holy crap

[@PrimarisBlackTemplaDraven]

The best part about the battle of Yonkers is that one guy who used his apache router blades as a weapon.

[@lazyquahog9385]

Funny how a similar scene plays out in 28 Weeks Later. I’d call it a coincidence.

[@ibelieveingaming3562]

In Prototype you can fly low and absolutely DESTROY all the zombies on the street using your rotors. Because of the flight mechanics, it's actually really easy!

[@godzillakingofthemonsters5812]

It does make you think, the zombie horde tends to get a lot of plot armor when regarding them against wild animals and especially things that should decimate them. The Walking Dead is one of the most notable examples, while the horse in the first episode is perfectly reasonable later episodes show a small number of the undead easily able to overpower them, and Shiva a fully grown tiger only gets one zombie kill before being torn apart by no more than 8 zeds. Dogs regardless of size also get bitten like once and just die. I think that too could be the topic of a video-since most tend to just refer to people vs zombies, when it'd be more like the world vs zombies.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Shiva should have taken a lot more zombies to go down yeah. But, dogs vs zombies is actually partly discussed later in the story, and I do plan to do a bit on the ecological effects both solanum and the fleeing humans had on the world.

[@godzillakingofthemonsters5812]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel Interesting, I hope to see your coverage. Been a fan of the channel for awhile, even helped me study ecology in university with all your fantastic work. Will be there when it uploads.

[@arcanefunds2645]

@@godzillakingofthemonsters5812 The reason why dogs vs zombies happen is because dogs often rely on their biting force to tear apart zombies. Biting zombies means injesting infected blood/flesh which leads to the dogs later on just dropping dead from the disease overtaking their bodies. This is this same for any other animals that rely on their bite to take out zombies.

[@nullpoint3346]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel I'm more surprised the tiger didn't run.

[@gabbrooh9126]

I came for the monster hunter content but stayed for the different kinds of content, hope for more kind of these

[@lilyeves892]

I do find it funny the idea the explosives would liquefy the organs but some how miss the brains

[@Sara3346]

Plausible for it it to happen occasionally enough in horde of 3 million for coming forward unevenly.

[@evillaughinthebackground5732]

My theory is that coagulated blood and liquid within the skull acting like a gooey/thick material isolating the brain from outside trauma

[@nullpoint3346]

Sounds like they just weren't using enough explosives.

[@Snapper314]

I also find it interesting that America would be so unprepared for slow moving Zombies. Maybe the Democrats won too may times and the Second Amendment was destroyed, along with any hope for regular civilians being able to defend themselves.

[@OnePlayer480]

​​@@Snapper314They weren't unprepared, there was no support left from the public because they had just pulled out from a disastrous war in the middle east and trying to go public with the zombie info could end in some senator pushing for a zombie protection bill or something as if not more stupid that would make the response impossible. They left it to the agencies to deal with, and those didn't because they were occupied with the things they were designed to deal with. Then, the one who caused the real end of America in-universe was that reporter who revealed the truth of the anti-rabies meds and the nature of the virus. It's sorta hinted that she went full "sensationalist who isn't lying but is overblowing the facts for clout" with her report, everyone saw it, it went viral, it went mainstream, and all hell broke loose. Suddenly people were boarding up their houses, doing wannabe Rambo antics, looting, killing, believing all sorts of stupidity that allegedly worked against or to protect yourself from the infection, a ton of people left their jobs and others outright left the country and that was everywhere, suddenly they weren't just in a zombie apocalypse, but in an economic recession turning into a global crash and then there was not enough money to buy or finance a counter-response, worse yet, there were no things being produced and shipped from countries falling apart before the U.S. and others did. Sort of a point mentioned that once global commerce halted, the crisis significantly worsened as more people died or became unable to be armed or fight back and all those easy pickings for zombies added numbers to the hordes really quick. The only reason the world ended so quickly it's because it was too dependent on each other. There's a whole 3 chapter sequence of guys explaining how people had to practically be taught by force how to factory worker 101 and be threatened with death by execution or starvation if they didn't want to work because their specialized degrees are useless in this situation in which the concern isn't voice acting or dancing but producing food and basic materials for maintenance of living facilities. The world ended because people legit believed it was ending and they ended it themselves, the zombies just accelerated and prolonged the resurgence process. And that's the point. At the end of the day the zombies are not aliens or interdimensional monsters, they're human carcasses. Nothing else. But people believed them to be much more or way less, they didn't think of them as real. Once every got their act together and real solutions were put on the table is when humanity steamrolled the zombies. And then we go back to the book's prologue and people are legitimately blaming the zombies for everything instead of acknowledging that we all collectively fucked up. Expected reaction from both Gov and population.

[@spinosaurusstriker]

Yeah i agree with your yonker,s address of but I also form part of the people who criticize it, there are some problems regarding the effectiveness of the weapons mentioned in the book that outright contradict the behavior of the zombies in other chapters and the justifications the book tries to make for it just don't work, like the blast and shrapnel from bombs not working on the zombies because the rupturing effect doesn't produce the organs to burst, ignoring that the reason it produces that effect is the blunt force so the zombies shouldn't be incapable to move regardless, the force would destroy the brain just fine or the tanks being ineffective is just nonsensical even if these have no bullets left they are still a fortress on wheels, just move in circles. the reason all of these is contradictory to the rest of the depictions of the zombies in the book is that there are relatively realistic zombies, they can be dispatched by a person with a machete, they don't have super strength or anything.

[@telson1583]

I see no reason why a tank runnig over as many zombies as possible wouldn't do serious damage to the horde

[@epicazeroth]

Yeah I'm not sure what Brooks was thinking. All it takes is one look at what a shrapnel bomb or high-explosive missile does to a building to work out that a zombie isn't going to be a big threat after getting hit.

[@TomatoApe-hx6by]

​@@telson1583 *tanks! If you let them aggro around one target they will eventually clog the treads and them it's GG.

[@spinosaurusstriker]

@@TomatoApe-hx6by Many tanks are made to run over mud , we are not talking about ww2 tanks here, saying humans could clog the treads is like saying that grass is gonna clog a grass cutter , i mean it could happen...but in all of them?

[@TomatoApe-hx6by]

@@spinosaurusstriker an entire prarie worth of grass would definitely break a grass cutter. That's why you never bring *one* grass cutter.

[@TheFoshaMan]

41:06 To be fair, no human can constantly aim to the head, poor soldiers, they were decimated 44:49 Man I love the scientific part of your videos!

[@Slywyn]

The weird thing about your sources/papers that you talk about is that as far as I'm aware, the CDC in the US has run simulations on zombies multiple times(it's a great way to model super-contagions) and as long as a couple of super basic rules(quarantine those bitten/infected and aim for the head) are followed, then I think something like 93 times out of 100, the US manages to pull through with relative order and relatively low losses. Slow, shambling zombies are just such a 'known quantity', so to speak, that *literally everyone* knows how to deal with them. You don't even need a gun, necessarily, and as mentioned as part of the Yonkers story, sufficient explosives use will vaporize a 'hoard' of them outright. In most of the CDC's simulations, something like a nuclear 'godzilla response' is almost never required, either. The military/civilians as-is are capable of dealing with the issue. The main reason that zombies are such a problem in WWZ is the fact that they never had stuff like the Romero films, so their world didn't "know" how to deal with zombies. We do. And I know at least one person is likely to point at the US's response to Covid, but there is a massive difference between ignorant people not understanding/not trusting the Gov't and others telling them about a disease they can't see, and people being literally eaten in front of you. The ones who go "MUH FREEDOMS" and refuse to react appropriately to a zombie threat will literally get eaten, and the ones who are "on the fence" will start aiming for the head. It turns out that people tend to react more 'sanely' to an existential threat.

[@TheKing-qz9wd]

On the notions of models that's super weird for is that for some reason nobody seems to think "So this pile of humans wants to bite us. Why don't we wear chainmail or something?" Like yeah ancient times has issues but how many people do you know can just bite straight through brass or iron plates? But most media only ever wear bullet proof vests and machine guns with civillians dressed with magazines or if you're lucky something like the dog training stuff. Meanwhile a dagger and plate means your greatest threat is getting buried alive in the sheer mass of undead, which you actually can still get back out most of the time. I mean yes I understabd there aren't that many suits of armor lying around and yada yada yada but you get my point. Bullet proof vests and machine guns aren't what you'd use to fight an elephant. You get something closer to a slug shooting cannon and use a jeep or half-track.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Chainmall in the ZSG is indeed recommended as effective anti-zombie armour, but the issue is by the time the dead are your doorstep there isn't much opportunity to order a suit.

[@TheKing-qz9wd]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel I know, I get that part. Just the idea is for things like "this particukar nation was less affected by the hordes because" I dunno they repurposed gear meant for things like bomb disposal or fire fighting or that chain mail some divers wear to not get so chewed up by sharks. Little things, daz all it had to be in the end.

[@ShinyUmbreon765]

Logistics is the issue, where does the metal come from? Who makes it? How does it get onto peoples backs? Wwz is about people living through collapsing societies not the zombies. The zombies could have been any disease.

[@Jwsponky]

Wouldn't even need to be proper plate or chainmail, a few good layers of thick cloth to mimic a gambeson should be sufficient to keep infectious bitey zombie bits away from squishy human bits.

[@derekschon314]

Chainmail is already expensive, imagine how hard it'd be to get a hold of once demand is through the roof. I certainly can't make it in my garage.

[@williansnobre]

Reading this book during a certain epidemic was crazy

[@chinglebingle8243]

This is my new favorite series on KZbin! I've been craving since Part 1

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Thank you! More to come

[@davidoblast8291]

Excited and watching rn, one of my favorite youtubers

[@tamonk9054]

I wonder with the prevelance of social media and the rapid spread of information specifically videos and images through it, would the great panic actually happen earlier, starting in some countries before the virus even arrived. Given how the war in Ukraine is the most documented war in history, simply because of average people/soldiers recording things and then posting them online. I'd say it wouldn't take long for a similar thing to happen in the case of a zombie outbreak, videos would pour out of China and other countries dealing with an early outbreak, showing the extent of the destruction brought by the virus. People would see this and undoubtedly panic at the sight of blood covered and decaying hordes of what were once people and they would very likely either start making demands of their government and/or begin to personally prepare. Of course it would be more complex than what I've described here and there could very well be a second great panic once the virus arrived but I guess the real question is would this be better or worse

[@dalekrenegade2596]

And prepare for disappointment when people just lose interest and move on to the next thing or just deny it's happening as what happened with Ukraine and COVID.

[@Suwako__Moriya]

“This is How the World Ends” by Keith Taylor touches upon this a little bit. It’s written in the same documentary format and heavily inspired by World War Z!

[@KaoKacique]

It was what happened with COVID too. Almost every information about the pandemic that left China in 2019 was shared by civilians in social media The panic happened before the pandemic arrived, and by the time it actually came people were uninterested enough to take precautions

[@dinosour2140]

The first vid gave me such awful anxiety and absolutely freaked me out to my core, and yet still, I’m here watching this one. Idk if this is addiction, masochism, or an incredibly finely-crafted video, but I’m gonna say great job anyways!

[@tigersinlondon2152]

MOOD AND SAME i love to continue my exposure therapy and confront my fear of zombies with this series lmao

[@Madaseter]

​@@tigersinlondon2152I feel the same thing ahaha😂

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Thank you! I'm glad the content is worth the terror.

[@ShadowDaPk]

You know this is a retelling and commentary on an existing, published story, right?

[@tigersinlondon2152]

@@ShadowDaPk yes funnily enough we are all capable of reading the description and comments, watched the previous video where op talks abt the source material, and are familiar with the widely known books and associated video game and movie :) it's almost as if the people watching this channel are interested in media analysis presented in this way :)

[@willkatching9219]

One thing that always bothered me in discussions about the shambling dead is the notion of infection and the growing hordes. To be infected you need to be bitten and not torn to pieces. A few zombies would tear a corpse apart, and a horde would do the same on a much greater scale. So how does the horde grow? The only people who turn are the ones who get mildy injured and get away, which is a pretty small minority. So outside of the initial illegal organ trade, we wouldnt see a lot of people getting infected without getting chewed into useless meat as well, meaning that the hordes would rarely if ever replace their numbers. This is less of an issue in Left 4 Dead, where the virus is airborne and thus doesn't need to be transmitted by physical damage, or the Living Dead series, where its caused by some sort of spce dust after a satellite collides with an asteroid that causes EVERYONE who died recently to stand up and start walking around in search of flesh, and being bitten just ensures death within a day or so. That said, I love this book and the book it was a loose parody of, The Good War, and would encourage everyone to read The Good War if you want to read something about the Second World War that focuses on many individuals in the broader sweep of history.

[@drchickengie2403]

I think what helps in growing the numbers of the horde is the fact that, as he talked about in the previous video and as it appears in The Zombie Survival Guide, the infected tend to get distracted easily by more fresh meat or screaming and other noises. Maybe a group of Zombies started chewing on an unlucky individual and maybe even they managed to remove one arm or open the intestines but then the Zombies could get distracted by another victim leaving the first one behind with the virus already in the system so that would inevitably lead into another infected

[@epicazeroth]

Yonkers is just... definitely something. I get that not every author is a strategist, I don't expect 100% competence from every fictional army. But when the incompetence crosses over into defying the laws of physics, it's a bit much.

[@onewowen]

I agree.

[@jamescawl6904]

Most battles are won via morale breaking it is impossible to break the zombie moral and they had millions constantly funneling to the sounds of battle.

[@jamescawl6904]

Most battles are won via morale breaking it is impossible to break the zombie moral and they had millions constantly funneling to the sounds of battle.

[@lexi-ru9sz]

@@jamescawl6904 who is this response directed towards?

[@elitemook4234]

@@jamescawl6904 That just makes zombies even eaiser to kill. They will just keep blindly walking into kill zones. In fact that's how they're defeated at the end of the book.

[@Ptollemios]

I used to think zombie apocalypses could never happen or get as bad as they do in fiction. And then COVID-19 happened and I saw what humanity was really like.

[@CBRN-115]

The world will never forget the toilet paper shenanigans. The absolute stupidity of human kind

[@hironguyen1708]

I hope there are no anti-vax in Zombie apocalypse like in Covid19 😢

[@Quasimodo-mq8tw]

​@@hironguyen1708 there would be. There would be.

[@deanod9543]

@@Quasimodo-mq8twwhat’s funny is that they would absolutely be right in universe

[@shadowpoet4398]

@deanod9543 - oof! _Next..._

[@dfmrcv862]

One last bit about Yonkers being "won". The issue is more that they *didn't* win. Todd implies that the thermobaric weapons didn't really do much because, again, "no headshots", which is a very silly aspect of Yonkers. See, Yonkers doesn't get criticized for what it *was* in the narrative, it gets criticized for *how* it did it. As I noted, there wasn't a fighting retreat. Closest to that is Todd later on mentioning something along the lines of "they planted a bunch of land mines", but that's not a fighting retreat, that's kind of a last-ditch measure to try and halt the undead. A fighting retreat from Yonkers would have involved the military having secondary fighting positions to move to if the first line fell. That's basic defense in depth from the Cold War era that Todd kind of pokes fun of. And yes, Brooks absolutely nerfed the military's capabilities here. The artillery *should* have done more than it did and even then, the idea that the line would collapse due to the slow-moving horde as CO's should be giving orders to start pulling back once the horde started getting closer. To be fair to Brooks, it's probably the only way he *could* have done it. Going through the Geeks Journal simulations, it seems zombies can only get this bad if they cause infection by contact and not by bites, and I could be wrong but I didn't see it take things like protection into account, nor did it consider how weapons could affect zombies, so you basically have zombies that will infect you if you simply interact with them, making firearms the only way to engage them. So Brooks would basically be in a situation where he had zombies that would be too tough to defeat, or too weak to cause the societal damage he wanted to portray and study. Overall, I *get* why Yonkers happened, it just drives me up a wall that people then use it to argue "that's how the military would actually act in this situation".

[@jamescawl6904]

Yonkers was not a battle of morale between two frontlines of thousands. It was a day long battle of thousands against an unbreakable army of millions all slowly shambling towards a killzone full of ill prepared troops. They had media running around reporting and interviewing. They had AA missile batteries for propaganda reasons. They even had mobile latrines even though the houses nearby still have functioning sewage systems. It was supposed to be a propaganda battle gone very wrong since they underestimated the millions strong horde.

[@dfmrcv862]

@@jamescawl6904 not unbreakable, just millions. And again, the point I made is that this isn't how the military operates or would operate. And, no... They didn't have AA batteries they had an EW vehicle in the area and Avenger humvees that can carry stingers but really carry ground attack munitions.

[@jamescawl6904]

@@dfmrcv862 the zombies are unbreakable though. Cut a zombie in half and it will crawl to you just for a bite. Just because you can kill a zombie doesnt mean you can break its morale and make it retreat.

[@dfmrcv862]

@@jamescawl6904 its not about making them retreat, but you can make them immovable. Todd Wainio noted as much was happening during Yonkers, but the US Army, the best logistical force on the planet, somehow, magically, forgot that it's soldiers needed bullets.

[@jamescawl6904]

@@dfmrcv862 the US army was already reeling from losing so much of the population to the virus. Each area in the US can only have so much supplies and ammo before they were exhausted. No to mention that as long as the zombie has one arm or one leg it is still mobile and very dangerous. Couple that with the US army training of aiming in the biggest target of the enemy(chest/torso) means that the troops are expending more ammo than needed to cripple a zombie. Then there are the zombies that are near unkillable unles the brain is directly targeted. The physiology of zombies also change to the point that not even the crushing depths of oceans could destrot their brain. Artillery/explosives can only do so much unless shrapnel or the blast force could pulp the brain. Modern artillery is mostly used to liquefy the internal organs of the enemy soldiers and the skull is a natural protection against blast waves.

[@Beowulf_DW]

The Yonkers bit always seemed to me the major point at which my suspension of disbelief ends for World War Z. A body, zombie or otherwise, can’t move without the intricate lattice work of the musculoskeletal system. Shrapnel, large calibre rounds and explosives can and will easily disable or destroy that system with minimal effort. No muscles, no movement, no shambling zombie horde.

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

The zombies were still getting obliterated by rounds and explosions, they were just up against several million of them. Many zombies in the latter stages of Yonkers were also described as crawlers; ones dragging themselves having lost the use of their legs, or lost their legs entirely. Large portions of the horde weren't intact when they reached the infantry.

[@Beowulf_DW]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel That would still leave the question of how in the hell infantry can be overrun but ankle-biting zombies only able to move with the use of their arms. Fighting retreats are something the US Army (and just about every other military) not only trains for, but includes it as part of its doctrine when fighting an enemy with numerical parity, nevermind numerical superiority. The author also seems to describe artillery shells being ineffective except on direct hits, and tanks being equipped with anti-tank shells for a battle with no tanks. The author has made it clear that the intended allegory of using shock and awe tactics against extremists (substituted here with zombies) doesn't work, and I'm inclined to agree with that point. The issue I take is that in making that point, the author was forced to make the military seem utterly incompetent, and miss-represents the actual effect many of these weapons have on the human body. Keep in mind that modern artillery shells have a "everything dies within a certain distance of the impact" radius that can be measured in football fields.

[@derekkrumel1407]

but 3 million zombos

[@Jwsponky]

@@Beowulf_DW Honestly from all I've read about the book, including reading the book itself, the reason the army lost is because the author needed them to for story purposes, and wanted them to as he dislikes the army and the government, same reason the governments are so incompetent with dealing with the zombies outside of initially covering them up.

[@derekkrumel1407]

@@Jwsponky not like... There was a living river of millions of zombos 🤨 I mean of course it happened like that because the author wanted it to be that way that's how writing works. But y'all ever seen 3 million of anything? Listen I'm an American so like 85 cents of every dollar I pay in taxes goes to the military so don't get me wrong I know we've got a truly obscene amount of firepower in our hands but like... Imagine if a crowd of people, taking up maybe half a square foot of space since they're arguably gonna be close in around the core and 'fuzzy' at the edges but here's the crazy thing... That crowd's number is equal to the entire population of Puerto Rico and shambling down one road. Now in addition to that you have to take into consideration the level of collateral damage the military is trying to prevent especially this early in the war before anyone knew how far it'd go. There's a ton of reasons Yonkers was a massacre in the text but also the logic follows. Alright so last thing is like... This text presumes zombies exist. I think that's a bigger ask than the US military losing a battle 😂 just ask 'Nam

[@robocatfan4213]

I honestly hope you keep doing this series of analyzing books like these and how they portray (realistically or not) creatures that aren’t necessarily real, because that’s not something one sees often and it’s very interesting! For example, there are two science fiction books called Rolling in the deep and Into the Drowning deep about a crew searching for mermaids, with the twist of attempting to explain how mermaids could actually work if they existed, and I think it’s worth a read!

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

I'll definitely give that a look!

[@dalekrenegade2596]

Just looked up those books, they do sound interesting. Definitely a lot more intriguing than another mermaid book I read that spends most of the plot blatantly stealing plot points from that Mermaid "documentary", the main character spends the book mostly being a crybaby that his own documentary was mocked, and the mermaids don't even show up until the last few chapters where any real tension finally happens. I'm not even gonna bother dignifying it further by remembering the title.

[@robocatfan4213]

@@dalekrenegade2596I hate that I know what book that is One of the reviews I found for it was essentially “thsi is (the company from the better mermaid book) for kids” :V

[@95keat]

Honestly for someone who was trying to make a "realistic" zombie apocalypse, the battle of yonkers should have gone alot better. The whole it "doesn't die unless you hit the brain" thing doesnt really matter if your tendons have been blown in half.

[@highjumpstudios2384]

He did Heavily nerf artillery. High explosive shells don’t just explode. They create a cloud of steel fragments. On top of that. The army didn’t use any air bursting shells, which can have their shrapnel directed downwards as well. I don’t know if it would have been as effective of a narrative tool. But watching as the artillery batteries gradually ran out of ammunition, but did do good work against the New York horde (3 mil zombies) and becomes a rout when things get a little too desperate.

[@Tmanowns]

​@highjumpstudios2384 a pyrrhic victory would make plenty of sense. The horde should have been extremely diminished, but the resources it took would be too much to keep up, leading to redesigning military doctrine to focus on cheaper weapon platforms that focus on redeployment, mobility, and volume of fire.

[@highjumpstudios2384]

@@Tmanowns yeah... Mr Brooks has this weird thing against the AR-15 as well. Some parts are really well researched, and some parts just... happen I guess.

[@MachineMan-mj4gj]

@@highjumpstudios2384 It's the kind pop-culture osmosis gun knowledge every 14 year old gets, because they heard about how EARLY M16's were fairly delicate and broke down in Vietnam. Most military equipment was designed with Eastern Europe in mind, and Vietnam happened at an awkward point where the old paradigm of warfare was evolving into it's current form.

[@highjumpstudios2384]

@@MachineMan-mj4gj I can't believe I forgot about fudd lore. Thanks for reminding me king. The m16 was bad because the army ordinance lab fucked with it and didn't tell the end user (the soldier) Stoners design was fine. Great even. Which is why most if not all of its problems magically disappeared with later iterations.

[@xxhogarthhugesxx1170]

These videos come off like recounting of real life history and less of fiction: very well done!

[@gimzod76]

Ah WWZ. It and the British fan fiction The Zombie War Battle for Britain are my favourite bits of zombie literature.

[@vonnegutfrey8714]

These videos are incredible. Wish they were around when I did a second annotated reading of the book trying to creat a concise timeline of events.

[@josephhoobler5749]

Your vids are awesome. Caused me to read both world war z and devolution

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

I'm glad to hear it!

[@Keldroc]

I know Americans are the only ones who say it "zee," but "World War Zed" always sounds so ridiculous to me because it loses the pun on World War Three.

[@Tmanowns]

I guess Brooks kind of forgot that tanks have grapeshot rounds that are perfect for destroying masses of soft targets like a zombie horde. Even if 95% of the zombies hit don't get their brains destroyed, their bodies would be so destroyed by the spread, that they wouldn't be a threat anymore. Not to mention the shrapnel from conventional explosives. White phosphorus rounds (which are normally only allowed to use for illumination) would absolutely destroy brains, due to how WP continues to stick around and keep burning. Thermobaric explosives would turn every skull nearby into a blender, and the horde would kill anything still going via trampling over them. Battle of Yonkers is just like the Battle of Winterfell in terms of overwhelming ignorance on the part of the writers not knowing how a military functions, and how weapons work.

[@AhmetOzdemir-om3bj]

Did you read the book?Becouse they said grapeshot rounds were very effective but the military just didnt bring enough of them to the battle.Even like you said conventional explosives were very effective a section from the chapter describing a single bombing run grinding hundreds to mince meat and ash.The problem highlighted in the chapter was incompetence from planning of the battle.They thought the zombies would tricle towards the battle line in groups of a couple thousand rather then smash into it as a millions strength hoard therefore letting them bring up more supplies as time went on and eventually annihilate all the zombies.If they had realised almost all the zombies in the area (The book mentions 11 million) would head straight for them they would have let the zombies advance and draw the battle line further back while amassing more supplies at that position.THey tried to solve the problem with the least amount of man and material needed for it,understated the threat then failed becouse of it.The book also hints at a silent civil war between the general staff and the remaining civil authorities right after yonkers hampering a orderly retreat.Sorry for writing an entire paragraph and for my writing errors english isnt my first language.I raed this book as a small child so it has a place in my heart.

[@JP-th8sq]

In my mind, the government telling their soldiers to not wear body armor and not loading canister ammo in m1 abrams tanks, seems like dumb thing for them to not think of. Besides Beuno being a saw gunner, every guy with an m4 still can use semi auto for more accurate fire. I don't think a military would be that unbelievably incompetent

[@ethanduncan1646]

Brookes weirdly believed in the myths of the m16 and it's later variants that they were a piece of crap. The initial problems with first Vietnam era rifles were quickly "fixed" and those problems were only because the American grunts didn't want to actually read their owners manual for proper treatment of their new rifles in a hot jungle environment.

[@JP-th8sq]

@@ethanduncan1646 Thats part of it though more it being described to them as not needing much cleaning. Vietnam still has m16s that they use for reservists which is funny. I definitely think a SAW or m2 is useless but m4s, m16s, etc would be perfect even with iron sights simply shooting the head. And I don't think there would need to be new firearms development anyway since they can just continue to make semi auto rifles in 5.56.

[@plasmaxl8626]

Yeah, reading the zombie survival guide as well, it's pretty clear Brooks has a deep misunderstanding of how modern weapons operate. Still a great couple of books though

[@SilentTraveller21]

It was 5000 soldiers against millions. Even if they had all the proper ammunition, they would have run out of ammunition and been over run before the zombies would have run out

[@JP-th8sq]

@@SilentTraveller21 I am sorry you are not smart enough to understand my point.

[@XaviusNight]

I love how this channel has continued to grow and evolve over time. Love this series, can't wait till more come out ^^

[@thenerdbeast7375]

You think sharks and fish would have been having a field day with all the submerged zombies, but I suppose all the stimulation frightened them away.

[@ShinyUmbreon765]

Explained in the book and previous video:all animals are intuotiviely repulsed by solemn(the zombie disease in wwz) in the meat, the living and the living dead.

[@hauntologicalwittgensteini2542]

Thats the biggest issue i hv with the book ngl, it makes sense for mammals to be afraid of the virus but sealife being the most bioactive component of the ecosystem should make mincemeat of the zombies.

[@ShinyUmbreon765]

​@@hauntologicalwittgensteini2542WWZ is about the breakdown of societies, not the zombies.

[@dalekrenegade2596]

​@@hauntologicalwittgensteini2542 You would also think the flies or crabs in the ocean would have field day.

[@spinosaurusstriker]

@@ShinyUmbreon765 Still doesn't make sense

[@jennyfeare1702]

Been loving this even if i feel a bit... "blegh" with zombies, feeling them as overrated with the over-saturation but Max Brook's works and your videos have been enjoyable and fascinating! Vamps are basically just better zombies so i much prefer those members of the walking dead, with their sharp nails and teeth for proper predation, a dark cunning (with some of the best and most effective human hunters being those that can blend among us as social parasites, picking up on our micro-expressions and such, seeming like the best of pals... until they aren't...), and tendency to hibernate for decades or even centuries during prey scarcity.

[@samfritz645]

Between the first video and this I listened to the whole audiobook (the one with full voice cast), thank you for introducing it to me!

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Excellent, I'm glad it delivered!

[@Guys_its_me_Chris]

I’ve already rewatched the first two episodes of WWZ I love it keep it bro

[@jimjohnson4579]

Read the book years ago, been loving these to listen to as a refresher. Amazing book, and great recap of the chapters

[@michaelminervini1908]

Sharon's story is one of the best. I like Todd's later interview when he mentions the church where they killed the kids. It connects the characters who never met.

[@thatnickwalker]

I'm loving this series, I've dug all of your content and so far I enjoy everything you make so I hope the algorithm doesn't mess with you.

[@VelociraptorsOfSkyrim]

As an interesting bit of side analysis, whenever I watch videos like this I often think about one particular Character of mine. The exact details of this character aren't important, but she does run an SCP/SHIELD style multinational organization. One thing i think is somewhat terrifying about her is her tactics. In another video, i commented on her tactics with a Last of Us Cordyceps fungus. Unfortunately, she's definitely not someone you want in control during a Zombie apocalypse. At first, she'd investigate, try and figure out what she's dealing with. But once she gets that report, she'd go over Local government's heads and pull out the big guns. Napalm, White Phosphorus, Nuclear, all on the table. Any anti-biological weapons, consider them used. She'd try to evacuate civilians, but if even a single zombie is seen in an area, she'd bathe that place in Nuclear hellfire

[@aldrika0515]

Loving this series on one of my favorite book! Can't wait to see more!

[@formalpainter6598]

I love these videos, such a cool approach to Zombies

[@cas3yarttv]

I love you dude. Relaying the events of the book is such a fun departure from monster hunter and spec evo, you e got a great voice, and you always use charts and studies to relate it to reality

[@Slades]

Really loving this series! I haven't read the book since college so this has been an enjoyable refresher :3

[@butterball33]

The scythe could have worked if they lowered it from head height to around chest height. It wouldn't stop all the zeds, but it could disable a lot of them and cause a build up that could work as a wall of bodies.

[@thewizard2390]

really love how you also tied in the zombie survival guide.

[@marcusaustralius2416]

The atopeka section of the audiobook was absolutely horrifying The voice actor they chose was fucking chilling, she deserves a fucking raise

[@dylandean690]

why can’t WWZ get a decent movie/tv adaptation? enjoying this series, thanks.

[@Uf7f7d6cufihud6dgco]

I wish World War Z was an ongoing series where every ten years or so, based on existing models and real political and scientific data, would write an update with the same premise. Like, World War Z after Covid would be fascinating. And I think it's valuable to remember that zombies are not just metaphores for sociatal ills but actually also metaphores for real-world pandemics. The general consensus in zombie media these days is that humans can very easily win against the shumbling Zombie horde, thus the rising popularity of running zombies and special infected breeds. So a continuous series keeping people humble against the shumbling zombies sounds pretty awesome. Plus, I loved the wide reaching story of how so many different people and places dealt with it. Also, I low-key want my country to one day be one of the countries that actually survives in these stories.

[@dfmrcv862]

Yonkers is, without question, the worst-researched part of the entire novel, and cool as it sounds, I've personally grown to despise it with a passion because of the effects it's had online as people have repeated the line "so long as you got a working thinker and some mobility" ad nauseum. I mean, *geez* even this video couldn't get away with some of the issues of that battle, like at 39:52. "the fact it has to affect the brain to be useful, combined with no nervous system to damage" is a huge contradiction because guess what's part of the nervous system: the brain! And of note, this *is* more or less how the book describes things. Todd Wainio mentions that there was no "SNT" and theorizes it could have been because of the congealed blood, but if that was the case then hitting a zombie skull with a bat *also* wouldn't stop it... but it's stated multiple times that melee weaponry is incredibly effective and less wasteful than firearms. And that's *ignoring* the backwards tactics... Even if we grant that the zombies can't be so easily stopped conventionally, the US military here is constantly ignoring its own strategies. No one considered logistics (what the US Army is most famous for), no one considered the concept of a fighting retreat, and it's painfully clear the battle went the way it did so the novel could keep going into a much more dramatic route of a near-extinction crisis. I get why it happened and its main point, but it has done *so* much damage to understandings of how the US military works in real life...

[@cassivellaunushonestus4927]

"A useless placebo to keep people calm..." Sound familiar? The question isn't how proficient we are with our firearms, it's question of how much ammo and magazines a person has on hand. Most gun owners know their weapons. Their sighting system, whether it's iron sights of an optic. There's also the question of how long they'll hang in the fight before bolting. A herd of zombies I reckon would be a rather freaking thing to see and most people aren't going to be as brave in the face of that as they'd like to think they'd be. Fight or flight baby, what would you choose?

[@andreegonzalez8862]

Really love this wwz series you are making, please keep it up man!

[@obsidian00]

I loved this book...and I love your breakdown...keep up the good work!

[@shadowpoet4398]

This is truly an A-MAY-ZING BOOK. Be that as it may, this was so clearly a work of its time. 2006 was 2 years into W's second presidential term. Talk of "the brushfire wars" clearly regarding to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. 2008 was the height of the great recession when a bulk of the economy went tits up. Now, I wonder what younger people who were not only born after 9/11/2001 but are now over 21 as of today (the cutoff is 2003) think about the novel. Do they see it as something silly, something about distant (to them) history that they never experienced? I'm fascinated. Max Brooks is obviously my favorite living horror writer.

[@baneofbanes]

I’m 24, so was around for 9/11 but don’t remember it. The book really isn’t that out of date yet. A lot of the domestic issues are still relevant, and we only ended Afghanistan three years ago and we’re still in Syria. Will say Brooks saw Putin for who he was king before anyone else seems to subs down so.

[@relaetsecyr]

The book is certainly a product of its time. One of the big issues with Iraq and Afghanistan is Secretary of defense Rumsfeld and Bush Jr. had no real plan for what came after the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and assumed that things would be fine and didn't really give either nation the real support they needed to rebuild themselves, reestablish security forces, and addressing local issues such as tribal affiliations and sectarian conflicts. Though Iraq has mostly stabilized, the political draw down on troop numbers really gave Islamic fighters room to recover and rebuild, and the exclusion of Saddam era officials into the new government also allowed for events like Fallujah where the old establishment decides to fight against the occupiers since they had lost everything in the new American system. Afghanistan itself was sabotaged by a poor understanding of the locals and also the war on drugs destroying the lifeblood of the local economy, the opium poppy so the war itself became economic as the lack of a post-war economy in the countryside allowed for the Taliban to reconstitute using the opium black market and pushed poppy farmers into being allies of the Taliban.

[@olixpatdo8181]

Thank you for these videos! I loved the book (& cursed the movie). This book made me ALWAYS assess which structures in our community and nearby areas would be suitableevac areas/safe zones. Major geek vibes, I know...

[@Burgerzaza]

Great video, convinced me to read the book despite my general dislike of zombie media because i grew up in the craze Though i want to be fair about this modeling observation: the zombie's win because they're magic lol. They dont need energy, they dont need air, they continue to function despite the fact their cells are dead, they repel all scavengers and recyclers, brain damage has *somehow* made them more effective predators with near full functionality of their body. Theres so much brain damage the bullet destroying the brain is just removing the magic curse called solanum, not achieving anything consistently significant lol Frankly: theyve been buffed to hell, so its no wonder they consistently win when biology and physics look the other way lol. 28 days later, while i feel the response was less realistic, the disease was atleast closer to a real disease and the 'zombies' had realistic limitations that made it peter out in less than a year. The bar is in hell for realism because thats not the point, but still lol. We aren't going down just because we're all stupid and helpless, but because the zombies are broken lol. Honestly idk why Brooks ever tried to rationalize it, because you cant really rationalize zombies, just tweak reality enough for people to accept them as a part of it while looking mostly the same on the surface. The zombies arent even the focus of the book, but instead a thought experiment of how people would respond to a global crisis, so i dont know why he tries to justify it with the magical curse of solanum

[@lazyquahog9385]

It is mentioned in the book that they shouldn’t survive in certain environments (one is re-animated after a Canadian thaw, a group are seen walking in the bottom of the ocean) and yet they still do.

[@გიორგიმოსაშვილი-ო3დ]

This is great content, leaving my comment to feed the algo. This book was an amazing read

[@alexsky9345]

I love these videos so much, your narrations are so soothing to the ears. Thank you for all you do, Unnatural History overlord! (Dunno how to address you, sorry haha)

[@hammerheadxray8152]

Hell yeah more WWZ lore! Maybe you can take a crack at Resident Evil

[@ComaToast712]

I refuse to believe that a single New Yorker- especially any on Long Island- would rush a millionaire’s gate with a suicide vest to just let a bunch of other people in.

[@KamikazeCommie501]

they were satchel charges, you just drop them and run

[@therealgeneralMacArthur]

For letting others in, no? But long islanders would absolutely rush a millionaire's gate with a suicide vest for other flimsy reasons

[@michaelsmyth3935]

I enjoy the *You Were There* manner of presentation.

[@raegardens8339]

I’m loving this series

[@BdogFinal14]

The Battle Of Yonkers but flawed. The tactics and Equipment used by the Army troops would have had a devastating effect on the zombie horde. Artillery shells set to air burst (exploding several meters off the ground ) would have flattered scores of tightly packed Z’s at a time. Any Z could under the explosive round would be completely dismembered. The Bradley fire a 25 mm round, that can also air burst. Bradley gunners are trained to fire just over the heads of their targets. Similar with heavy and light machine guns. They would cut through a zombie horde like a weed eater. The real problem would be ammunition resupply.

[@mr.rathalos1155]

I also think it’s also worth noting that zombies who are dead dead and only need their brains to survive would probably turn anyone they’ve eaten that hasn’t had their brain touched would become a zombie themselves

[@EWA8755]

I was disappointed in Brad Pitt's WWZ. Not because it was a bad movie. It wasn't. This book was made to be the greatest Zombie anthology ever. A live action, CGI series done right would draw a lot of viewer interest. A well-done animated series would be well received also.

[@jmcclain8237]

How this book isn't a series on Netflix or Max is beyond me.

[@thetalkingbear]

COVID is an apples oranges situation. Zombie virus is mostly blood or fluid transmission. COVID is mostly air borne. Also slow zombies are far more easier to deal with in early stages. The proliferation of zombie lore in the general populace might help humanity. There would be some that would immediately accept the danger rather than sail up the river denial.

[@AugustusSinclairWhite]

The issue with the rejection of the covid vaccine was a combination of a distrust in institutions that only gotten worse since and the messaging around the vaccine constantly shifting. I remember the official narrative starting off with a promise of immunity, and then downgraded to keeping you from giving to others, and then finally to the current 'it might maybe blunt the worst symptoms?'.

[@HeavensRipper-he4sz]

Do the models of zombie outbreaks account for what their more realistic limitations would be? In World War Z zombies have infinite energy and don't require oxygen, and are magically immune to rot and the likes of insects laying their larva in their decaying flesh and eating them from the inside out. Any kind of IRL zombie-like phenomena would necessarily be way weaker than anything in here, no?

[@jesscmcmxc]

something like designed nanotech with replicative abilities is much more believable, imho, like Michael Crichton's Prey (2002) (same author as og Jurassic Park). still has plotholes, but biological explanations for zombies is absurd imho. multicelluar life rides a razor-fine line of constantly breaking apart 🤯

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

It is mentioned that Solanum is repellent to insects and most other pathogens, giving zombies an average 'life' span of around 4 years or so. The models generally have zombies that are killable and sometimes curable, so they're not completely indestructible or anything.

[@dalekrenegade2596]

​​@@unnaturalhistorychannel Okay that's just blatant plot armor.

[@sadmeme9748]

@@dalekrenegade2596 there's a lot of examples in nature of insects ignoring carcasses that have been killed by pathogens or funguses.

[@dalekrenegade2596]

@@sadmeme9748 But every insect though?

[@The_Struggler_]

The military would've won, the yonkers situation is kinda laughably badly written

[@cjthebeesknees]

Delicious, succulent zombie meal.

[@ofwolvesandmagic]

The one thing I will disagree with is the woman who was recounting the minute the penny dropped for her. Her husband wasn't bitten. He had stains all over his shirt from the zombie, but he told her to get the kids in the car, to start the car, and then he went to get the dog. Also, the woman who carried Sharon to safety was her friend's mother. She shot Sharon's mom to save her, then carried her out before she was swarmed. All in all though? I'm really enjoying your observations.

[@devriestown]

Yeah, this guy SUCKS

[@thedragondemands5186]

15:30 - the underrated terror of that line in the book: “this was the interstate highway in Nebraska between Lincoln and North Platte” - after spending much of the chapter thinking the zombies were swarming traffic jams between larger cities on the east coast or even Ohio or something…even just LARGE TOWNS in NEBRASKA were heavily infested, and there was truly nowhere to run

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

I think WWZ is so effective in that the tone and fear in the book maintain a pretty level pace throughout without it feeling like one part is sacrificed for another. Also, thrilled you’re enjoying my videos! I’m grateful for your content and the footage you provide in the buildup to HoTD S2!

[@thedragondemands5186]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel oh I met Max Brooks - I was in a fan film my university did as a background zombie, and he signed my copy of World War Z

[@erendiranigarcia8326]

i love ur videos so much man. pls never stop

[@The_PokeSaurus]

13:32 Primal Theory.

[@ladybuzzkillington2072]

Tbhaybe I'm just in the right crowd but the majority of American Gun owners are literally experienced in the exact methods described as best for handling zombies. Due to most citizens only having regular access to semi-automatic weapons precision shooting is the usual skill group we go for. I mean yeah don't get me wrong I'm sure there is plenty of "I bought myself an AR for self defense" guys and gals who never practice nor train, however the majority I know regularly practice their shooting for accuracy and remaining calm. I can ping pennies with my rifle at 30 yards on iron sights, and with my buddies and I regularly go out for LONG range shooting competitions. I'm pretty consistent out to 100-150 yds with the right equipment, none of which is exceptionally large nor heavy. All I'm saying is I think those models underestimate the skill set of the average American gun owner. Either that or I far over estimate it lmao

[@chancegivens9390]

After all this, I'll have to listen to the audiobook. Some great shit from what you're describing! And I rather like the analysis towards the end of the last video.

[@Sormel5134]

Something I'm curious about regarding the zombie apocalypse simulations is if they take things like terrain, climate, and decomposition into account? I know the virus from World War Z specifically prevents its host from rotting, but what about one that doesn't?

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

I don't think natural decay is factored in, but then most popular scenarios like this one do seem to have some in-lore repellant against it.

[@michaelminervini1908]

13:50 OMG listen to the book several times and never realized he had been bit and hence the meaning of the final gun shot.

[@conkcreet1344]

Great video

[@NathanCassidy721]

I actually bought the book to reread after seeing this series.

[@calebreynolds9183]

M4s are incredibly accurate…

[@mike7652]

Why do characters in zombie movies and shows rarely (if ever) bother with any sort of armor? TWD had some during the prison arc, but they ditched it later for whatever reason. Plot armor is more effective apparently.

[@uberness77]

Because in a war of attrition armor will overheat you and tire you a lot quicker if it's full body shit, especially with how often fights come down to being melee combat. Sure you might not get bitten, but once you're dragged down your bones are just gonna get crushed by the weight. Plus if we get realistic, you don't need armor. Get some good proper leather clothing and boots, make sure minimal skin is exposed in that, zombies aren't chomping through a good leather jacket and it'll be way less heavy.

[@therealgeneralMacArthur]

​@@uberness77 Yeah well why do charecters in zombie movies never bother with good leather jackets either?

[@tylernail-gk7xe]

These zombies have isekai-level plot armor

[@dfmrcv862]

Oh! Another point... even by the time the novel was written (2006), the US military didn't use guns on full auto as the norm... them wasting more time reloading when they only train you to use full auto for very specific circumstances (Todd being a light machine gunner would have had a very specific role). The troops wouldn't be firing in full auto. Meanwhile machine guns equipped thing things like the "Common Remotely Operated Weapons Station" could pull off the "scythe theory" as the gun is stabilized, remotely controlled, and can be adjusted for height purposes. Honestly, Yonkers shouldn't have been the defeat it was... it's an important plot point, but *so* badly researched...

[@ddd09ish1]

...yeah, this is eerie, comparing this to what happened with 2020...

[@borisslavk01nolastname91]

Holy Russian Empire in WWZ: 😐 Holy Russian Empire in TNO: 💀

[@fayertreijd919]

I know the reality of such a situation as this would be tragic, but it pleases me to no end to hear the words '...the ruins of wichita', even if fictitious

[@udamthewaster9454]

So zombies in the book walked?

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Shuffled, even

[@udamthewaster9454]

@@unnaturalhistorychannel interesting change for other wwz media

[@takenname8053]

Still haven't read the book, but the series is really interesting!

[@HungNguyen-sy4oz]

One thing I didn't expect: An actual seaborne invasion by the undead. Regarding the Great Panic, I always thought it was just mass hysteria (which is usually more than enough anyways), but yeah, zeeks actually pulling off a Normandy landing? Yeah, eff this shit, I'm out.

[@doge4818]

How they implemented land warrior is just so badly written. We tried some stuff like that in the Marines when i was in in 2013. It was set up like a tier access, because the rifle man doesn't need to know what's going on with other squads, and a platoon commander would need to know where allies are. If everyone had access it would cause information overload. What is written in the book would be something a battalion commander would have.

[@SaltyAsFug]

was there a tactic talking about aiming for the legs? and let them get killed by the stampede?

[@b9904]

World War Z predicted the Chinese coverup in 2020 😂😂😂