A modern classic by Nobel Laureate J. M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians centers on the crisis of conscience of the Magistrate-a loyal servant of the Empire wworkiong in a tiny frontier town, doing his best to ignore an inevitable war with the "barbarians." After he witnesses the cruel and unjust treatment of prisioners of war, he reconsiders his role in the regime and carries out a quixotic act of rebellion.
