The Powers that Be

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Gladiator

In the Roman Empire, gladiators entertained public audiences by violently fighting other combatants and wild animals to the death. Most gladiators had little choice over their profession—they were criminals, slaves, and war prisoners condemned to the gladiatorial arena. However, there were others that willingly chose the lifestyle; some for the promise of regular meals, and some for the promise of glory. In the following excerpt from his book, Gladiator, Richard Watkins describes the beginning and the end of the gladiator tradition.

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The Lottery

Shirley Jackson’s famous short story “The Lottery” tells the chilling tale of people in a small town gathered to carry out a deadly tradition--a lottery that selects a victim at random for ritual sacrifice. When this story appeared in The New Yorker in 1948, the response was loud, but divided: many distressed readers wrote in to cancel their subscriptions. Others asked in which town it was modeled so they could be spectators of such an event. Called “an icon in the history of the American short story,” Shirley Jackson’s piece may be controversial, but once read, it engraves itself in readers’ psyches forever.

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The Wise Old Woman

"The Wise Old Woman" is a traditional Japanese folktale retold by Yoshiko Uchida, a Japanese-American author who grew up in California during the Great Depression. As a child, Uchida’s parents taught her to appreciate the customs and folktales of their native land, and as a result, Japanese culture is prevalent in Uchida’s writing. Through her writing, Uchida expressed the hope that “all children, in whatever country they may live, have the same love of fun and a good story.”

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World of Tales: Read more folktales like this one!

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

In Nothing to Envy, Barbara Demick penetrates the shadowy dictatorship of modern North Korea, focusing on six individuals. The following excerpt features two of the main characters: Mrs. Song, a bookkeeper and loyal supporter of Kim Il-sung’s regime, and her daughter Oak-he, who is dangerously inclined to be skeptical. The episode begins with Mrs. Song and her husband Chang-bo, an independent thinker, watching television, an activity they proudly share with apartment house neighbors who cannot afford the luxury of TV.

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