Cannibalism, by Bill Schutt

Bill Schutt’s forthcoming book, Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History, is an informative and yet very light-hearted look at a fascinating subject. From the animal world to the human world, the author explores cannibalism in a non-judgmental way.

His premise is that cannibalism is perfectly reasonable from an evolutionary perspective, and the first half of the book is devoted to examining its prevalence in nature. As it turns out, cannibal animals are rather common. From parents eating their offspring to children eating their parents, and from an easy meal to mating benefits, cannibalism proves itself a useful tool throughout the animal kingdom.

Schutt consciously avoids sensationalism, preferring not to dwell upon famous cases of survival cannibalism, with the exception of the Donner party story, or cannibal killers who’ve been in the newspapers. As he rightly observes, there are plenty of gory books devoted to these people.

Instead, he talks about cannibalism in China and Papua New Guinea, where it never achieved the taboo status that it did in the West, at least until very recently. From Chinese children slicing off body parts to feed their parents to tribesmen eating their dead out of respect, it is a gory and yet fascinating part of the book.

Also of interest is the section on diseases spread through cannibalism, such as BSE in the UK and kuru in Papua New Guinea. And speaking of medical issues... did you know cannibalism was conducted in the name of medicine in Europe? 

Cannibalism comes out next year from Algonquin Books. Do yourself a favour and pre-order it.