Zombie Studies

What is a zombie-and why has this impossible monster refused to die?

Zombie Studies explores the history, folklore, biology, psychology, epidemiology, and social meaning of one of the world's most enduring monsters. Beginning with Haitian Vodou and older traditions of the restless dead, the book follows the zombie's transformation from a symbol of lost autonomy into the flesh-eating, civilization-ending creature recognized around the world today.

Along the way, the book examines George A. Romero's revolutionary influence on zombie cinema, the real science behind parasites and infections that manipulate behavior, the biological problems of a walking corpse, and what would actually happen if a zombie outbreak began spreading through a modern population.

Could a corpse really walk? Could a fungus or virus create something resembling a zombie? How quickly would an outbreak spread through cities and airports? Would governments and militaries be able to contain it? What happens to electricity, water, hospitals, food distribution, banking, and communications if society begins to collapse? And how would ordinary people really behave when fear, scarcity, grief, and survival begin replacing the rules of normal life?

Inside, discover:

• The origins of zombies in Haitian folklore and Vodou

• Ancient myths of revenants, ghouls, vampires, draugr, and other restless dead

• The birth and evolution of the cinematic zombie

• George A. Romero and the creation of the modern zombie archetype

• The anatomy and fictional physiology of walking corpses

• Rabies, parasites, fungi, neurotoxins, and real biological "zombies"

• How a hypothetical zombie epidemic could spread

• Quarantine, immunity, contagion, and mathematical outbreak models

• Psychology, leadership, panic, cooperation, and violence during catastrophe

• The collapse of infrastructure, government, trade, medicine, and modern society

• How survivor communities might rebuild civilization after disaster

Part cultural history, part science book, and part apocalypse thought experiment, Zombie Studies treats the zombie seriously without taking the subject too seriously.

Whether you are a horror fan, monster enthusiast, student of folklore, survival-fiction reader, or simply someone who has wondered whether zombies would actually survive a Scandinavian winter, this book offers a deeper look at the creature behind the apocalypse.

The dead may be fictional.

The questions they raise are not.