"The Village" is a science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 by Kate Wilhelm

Kate Wilhelm

Kate Wilhelm is an American writer whose works include science fiction, mystery, and fantasy.- Career :Wilhelm was born in Toledo, Ohio....

. It was first published in the 1973 anthology Bad Moon Rising: An Anthology of Political Forebodings

Bad Moon Rising: An Anthology of Political Forebodings

Bad Moon Rising: An Anthology of Political Forebodings was a science fiction short story anthology edited by Thomas M. Disch, published in 1973. The title is taken from the 1969 song Bad Moon Rising by the folk band Creedence Clearwater Revival....

edited by Thomas M. Disch

Thomas M. Disch

Thomas Michael Disch was an American science fiction author and poet. He won the Hugo Award for Best Related Book – previously called "Best Non-Fiction Book" – in 1999, and he had two other Hugo nominations and nine Nebula Award nominations to his credit, plus one win of the John W...

. It was also published in the 1977 anthology The Infinity Box

The Infinity Box

The Infinity Box is a collection of science fiction and fantasy stories by Kate Wilhelm, published in hardcover by Harper & Row in 1975. It was reprinted in paperback by Pocket Books in 1976; a British edition was published by Arrow Books in 1979, and a French translation, Le Village, appeared in...

and the 1987 anthology In the Field of Fire edited by Jack Dann

Jack Dann

Jack Dann is an American writer best known for his science fiction, an editor and a writing teacher, who has lived in Australia since 1994. He has published over seventy books, in the majority of cases as editor or co-editor of story anthologies in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres...

 and Jeanne Van Buren Dann.

Reception

In reviewing Bad Moon Rising: An Anthology of Political Forebodings

Bad Moon Rising: An Anthology of Political Forebodings

Bad Moon Rising: An Anthology of Political Forebodings was a science fiction short story anthology edited by Thomas M. Disch, published in 1973. The title is taken from the 1969 song Bad Moon Rising by the folk band Creedence Clearwater Revival....

, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction editor Joanna Russ

Joanna Russ

Joanna Russ was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as How to Suppress Women's Writing, as well as a contemporary novel, On Strike Against God, and one children's book, Kittatinny...

called The Village "the best piece of propaganda I have ever read." She goes on to say "it carries its own split; its subject (the war in Southeast Asia) is folded back on itself in a doubleness that is the subject of the story. This is the first time I've seen Ms. Wilhelm use slick-magazine origins of her people and places (not her treatment of them) so savagely and well. The tale, which was written several years ago, was good enough to frighten the slick magazines into rejecting it; only now does it see print."