num_pages: 246
description: Cannibalism is unquestionably one of the oldest and deepest-seated taboos. Even in an age when almost nothing is sacred, religious, moral and social prohibitions surround the topic. But even as our minds recoil at the mention of actual acts of cannibalism there is some dark fascination with the subject. Appalling crimes of humans eating other humans are blown into major news stories and gory movies: both Hitchcock's "Psycho" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" were based on the crimes of Ed Gein, who is profiled, along with others, in this book. In "Eat Thy Neighbour," the authors put the subject of cannibalism into its social and historical perspective. They present a lively and informative account of cannibalism, and cannibals, from the earliest known incidents to the present day. They include cases of ritual cannibalism in early and primitive societies such the inhabitants of Papua New Guinea; cases where famine, poverty, disease or war has left no alternative; cases in mythology, legend, literature, and fairytales like "Hansel and Gretel"; and cases of individuals from the Middle Ages to the present - Mrs Lovett and Sweeny Todd, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Armin Meiwes, the recent German cannibal who found his victim via the internet.
language: English
title: Eat Thy Neighbor: A History of Cannibalism
titlecomplete: Eat Thy Neighbor: A History of Cannibalism
characters: Alfred Packer, Andrei Chikatilo, Jeffrey Dahmer, Sawney Bean, Ottis Toole, Karl Denke, Armin Meiwes, Henry Lee Lucas, Issei Sagawa, Sweeney Todd, Albert Fish, Hadden Clark, Gary Heidnik, Nicolas Claux, Marc Sappington, Ed Gein
genres: Anthropology, True Crime, History, Science, Crime, Historical, Death, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 373
publisher: Sutton Pub Ltd