About her short story "The Lottery," Shirley Jackson wrote, "It was not my first published story, nor my last, but I have been assured over and over that if it had been the only story I ever wrote or published, there would be people who would not forget my name." First printed in the New Yorker in June of 1948, the chilling story of ritual violence generated more mail to the magazine than any piece of fiction before or since, and hundreds of shocked readers canceled their subscriptions. Since then, "The Lottery" has been translated into hundreds of languages and made into a radio play, two television plays, a ballet, and even an opera. It is ubiquitous in short story anthologies and part of the required curriculum of many high school English programs.

The story concerns a ceremonial custom in a small, unnamed town. With...