This is a fairly thorough collection of "pop literary criticism" essays on The Hunger Games and its sequels, and as such it is likely very useful to teachers and students of the work(s). However, fun and casual reading this is not. It's not as much that the essays are difficult or highly theoretic; the problem (for me, at least) lies in the repetition. There's only so many ways one can parse, for instance, the fact that Katniss is more prone towards "masculine" pastimes and attitudes, or that the Capitol's citizenry are passively complicit in the violence they observe. Actually, my favorite of all these essays is the one I found hardest reading--Guy Andre Risko's "Katniss Everdeen's Liminal Choice and the Foundations of Revolutionary Ethics"--because it dealt with issues of legal personhood that I'd never encountered in language that made me feel like I was learning something new. Admittedly, if that essay had been much longer, I'd probably have grown tired of the exercise, but the novelty was exciting. So, while this is doubtless a useful compendium of worthwhile criticism, I found it a little tedious, but would nonetheless recommend it (in small portions at a time) to anyone interested in literary criticism of "popular fiction."

I received this through the early reviewer program. As mentioned by others, it contains a large number of essays by academics about the Hunger Games series. I love literary analysis and loved this book and I think other lit. analysis geeks and anyone who is a serious fan of the Hunger Games series will enjoy this book. Some essays spoke to me more than others - for example - I really loved "Hungering for Righteousness" but "Apples to Oranges" irked me (but that might be because I just disagreed with a number of points and have -ahem- personal issues with Twilight and Bella.) ( )

This book of academic, scholarly essays about the Hunger Games trilogy is conveniently divided into four sections with simlarly themed essays grouped together.
While I did not care for most of the politically-themed essays, I did find majority of the book's essays very interesting.
Here are my recommended essays:
"Coal Dust and Ballads: Appalachia and District 12" - discusses the folk culture of past and current Appalachian people and compares to Suzanne Collins' future vision of District 12.
"Hungering for Righteousness: Music, Spirituality and Katniss Everdeen" - discusses the lack of national and personal observations of any religious customs in Collins' trilogy. Posits the idea that music serves as Katniss' religion.
"The Masks of Femininity: Perceptions of the Feminine in The Hunger Games and Podkayne of Mars" - compares two female literary protagonists and how they use or do not use their femininity.
"The Child Soldier and the Self in Ender's Game and The Hunger Games" - another essay that compares two literary protagonists, this time one male and one female, who are both children being forced to violence knowingly or unknowingly by adults in positions of power.
"Apples to Oranges: The Heroines in Twilight and The Hunger Games" - a well-thought-out essay comparing Bella Swan and Katniss Everdeen.
"From the Boy Who Lived to the Girl Who Learned: Harry Potter and Katniss Everdeen" - another well-thought-out essay comparing two literary phenomenons. ( )

I need to stop getting sucked in by mostly-academic Early Reviewer essay compilations/people's theses.

It's interesting, but dry and hard to read.

This is an interesting collection of essays on The Hunger Games. It is a popular study collection, rather along the lines of the "Philosophy and..." pop-culture studies series, rather than a serious Harold Bloom-style litcrit series. Especially of use for students, with wonderful insights and fascinating studies, it will provide much grist for the intellectual mill. Of course it will be of great interest to the fan.