Historical Fiction; Philosophical Literature; Dystopian Literature
Graham composed The Power and the Glory after taking a trip to Mexico to report on the anti-clericalism taking place. The novel follows a fictional priest, but the regimes and social policies described in the novel were very real. The Red Shirts, for example, were a real paramilitary organization that carried out the murder of Catholics and the destruction of churches.
We might call it realistically dystopian, but it's not a book you'd go to for detailed historical accuracy. Its focus is rather on the timeless question of what it means to be a saint.
And in addition to addressing the meaning of sainthood, the story portrays the social eruption that occurs when Big Ideas get taken out of books and discussions and become the bedrock of major social movements. The lieutenant speaks for his idealistic atheistic socialism that he believes can bring an end to suffering. The priest speaks for his own foundational ideas: that sin is real and calls for atonement, that suffering can be redemptive, and that freedom means submitting to the will of God. This isn't the classroom or a fireside chat. Their respective worldviews have major consequences for the worlds in which they live—particularly for who has power and what they do with it.