More Than Just Anthropophagi!

Schutt, Bill.  Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History.  Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2017.
          ISBN: 978-1-61620-462-4

If you are looking for a deep, in-depth examination of cannibalism in human  history, keep looking.  A glance at the cover clues the reader into what Bill Schutt focuses on - cannibalism in the the broadest terms - in this popular science book.

Bill Schutt provides a very readable, quirky examination of cannibalism using the broadest of definitions - the eating of individuals or parts of individuals by other individuals of the same species.  He looks at examples in frogs, crickets, fish, bears and the strange case of the caecilians.  He discusses what can cause the cannibalistic behavior and what advantages it may provide.  He provides a brief chapter on the possible case of dino cannibals before delving into humanoid cases, beginning with Neanderthals and working his way to the present.  Along the way he discusses the uses of bones and other body parts in medicine and the modern fad of placenta eating (no, it does not taste like chicken).  He provides cases when cannibalism has been condoned and when the public has been appalled.  He also discusses the Fore and Mad Cow disease correlation.  In short, Schutt provides a soup to nuts course on cannibalism. 

While Cannibalism is breezy read with quirky footnotes, it may leave the reader hungry for a more substantial take on this topic.  Luckily, he does provide a decent bibliography of sources that allow the discerning reader the opportunity to delve deeper into particular aspects of cannibalism!