Are You Not Entertained

Anglo-American culture is marked by a gladiatorial impulse: a deep cultural fascination in watching men fight each other. The gladiator is an archetypal character embodying this impulse and his brand of violent and eroticised masculinity has become a cultural shorthand that signals a transhistorical version of heroic masculinity. Frequently the gladiator or celebrity fighter - from the amphitheatres of Rome to the octagon of the Ultimate Fighting Championships - is used as a way of insisting that a desire to fight, and to watch men fighting, is simply a part of our human nature. This book traces a cultural interest in stories about gladiators through twentieth and twenty-first-century film, television and videogames.

From Nine to Thrive shows professionals how to build a credible and consistent personal brand that will help you thrive in your career.

From the New York Times best-selling author of The Black Friend and a seasoned activist comes an indispensable guide to social and political progressivism for young people and anyone wanting to get more involved. What is disinformation, and how does it influence our lives? How did the wealth gap become so staggeringly wide? Why do so many Americans lack access to quality health care? And—most importantly—what can we do about it all? Through a combination of personal anecdotes and interviews, authors Frederick Joseph and Porsche Joseph make a compelling case for tackling some of the biggest issues of our day, from gun violence, the prison system, transphobia, and indigenous land theft to climate change, education, housing, and immigration. Covering sixteen topics and featuring more than two dozen interviews with prominent activists, authors, actors, and politicians, this is the essential resource for those who want to make the world better than we found it. Featuring interviews with: Mehcad Brooks Keah Brown Julián Castro Sonja Cherry-Paul Chelsea Clinton Charlotte Clymer Mari Copeny, aka Little Miss Flint Greg D’Amato Jesse Katz Amed Khan Daniel Alejandro Leon-Davis Willy and Jo Lorenz Ben O’Keefe Brittany Packnett Cunningham Anna Paquin Robert Reich Brandon T. Snider Nic Stone Anton Treuer Andrea Tulee David Villalpando Elizabeth Warren Shannon Watts Natalie Weaver Brandon Wolf

Thousands flocked to see gladiators, charioteers, wild animals, women and children hacked, crucified, torn to pieces, ravished, burned, and drown. Biographies, paintings, historical evidence and an author's imagination merge to tell the story of one of history's most ruthless exhibitions—the Roman games.