The author ripped the concept off from another book from 1999, called Battle Royale.
I have read all three books, and I don’t see how any of that could happen under a Conservative/Libertarian society. First of all the GOVERNEMNT runs everything in Panem. There are no corporations, people do not have the freedom to live where they want, they don’t have the freedom to ANYTHING they want, the people can’t have guns, only the authorities can have a gun. People can be killed for hunting. People can be killed for talking bad about the government. The people living in the districts work for the GOVERNMENT, and the Government forcefully distributes the wealth and produce of each district to the surrounding districts. Meanwhile food is rationed by the government. While the people at the top, and the people who live in the Capitol get the best of everything and live it up.
The Hunger Games trilogy has more in common with Communism than Free Market Capitalism.
“Battle Royale” is an outstanding book, and made all the more so by its central conceit, taking place in an alternate-timeline Japan (the Republic of Greater East Asia) thereby combing my two favorite genres: alternate history and dystopian fiction.
“Hunger Games”; not so much. Not bad as dystopian fiction goes, but nowhere near as good as “Battle Royale”.
I’ve used this book for a student book club for years. Recently, I’ve had the kids read, “Breaking Stalin’s Nose,” which is about life under USSR. My students have no problem making the connection between an all-powerful government/Panem and an all-powerful government/USSR. Pity the liberals can’t see that...