In the book’s fictional introduction, the first-person narrator and interviewer gives some brief background into the evolution of the unofficial record of “World War Z” (1)—which is presented as the rest of the book. Although the event, understood to be “the greatest conflict in human history,” goes by many names, the narrator prefers to use the term “The Zombie War” (1). They find the term zombie to be the most appropriate when referring to the menacing creatures that almost destroyed the world, though they know others would certainly disagree.

The unofficial record has its origins in the narrator’s conflict with the chairperson of the United Nation’s Postwar Commission Report. The chairperson feels the narrator, who was tasked with writing the original report, has written something too emotional. Their work is only presented as the official report after being dramatically trimmed to about half its original content. The narrator argues to the chairperson that the emotional content is absolutely necessary to prevent future generations from making the same mistakes. They feel the sanitized data and hard facts of the official report do not give a complete picture of the events that have transpired. When the chairperson angrily welcomes them to publish their own version, they accept the challenge.