here is another good book on the subject of gladiators - Emperors and Gladiators by Thomas Wiedemann - which brings some context to the table and even suggests why Roman christians were so opposed to gladiators (they offered a rival representation for hope of resurrection) and which can enrich our lives today both Christian and non Christian. He is a respected scholar but the book is expensive.
In another article T Wiedemann rates the film Gladiator highly because of its accurate portrayal of Roman virtue and fighting spirit, although he views it as grossly unhistorical as to historical detail.
Should we donate a copy to WT headquarters? -edit maybe not as they may misquote from it to order everyone to pioneer
from amazon
Of all aspects of Roman culture, the gladiatorial contests for which the Romans built their amphitheatres are at once the most fascinating and the most difficult for us to come to terms with. They have been seen variously as sacrifices to the gods or, at funerals, to the souls of the deceased; as a mechanism for introducing young Romans to the horrors of fighting; and as a direct substitute for warfare after the imposition of peace.
In this original and authoritative study, Thomas Wiedemann argues that gladiators were part of the mythical struggle of order and civilisation against the forces of nature, barbarism and law breaking, representing the possibility of a return to new life from the point of death; that Christian Romans rejected gladiatorial games not on humanitarian grounds, but because they were a rival representation of a possible resurrection.