Colson Whitehead has famously tackled topics like a young man’s coming of age in “Sag Harbor,” the social elevation of African Americans in “The Intuitionist,” and America’s industrial age in “John Henry Days.” In his new novel, the award-winning Whitehead goes just as large, maybe even larger, with a look at how an imaginary apocalypse might bring out the best and worst in humans and American culture. Also, Whitehead’s apocalypse includes zombies. The title of the new book, which hits stores this week, is “Zone One.”