The History of Cannibalism

Why does nearly every culture on earth have stories about eating human flesh? This book takes on one of humanity's oldest and most uncomfortable subjects, not as shock material, but as a serious look at how cannibalism has shaped empires, fueled propaganda, and haunted human history from the Stone Age to the modern era. From Aztec ritual consumption to the desperate choices made on lifeboats and in besieged cities, from witch trial confessions of infant cannibalism to colonial powers labeling entire peoples as man eaters to justify slavery, the subject is traced across cultures and centuries. Forensic evidence, diaries, court records, and anthropological research separate what actually happened from what was invented, exaggerated, or weaponized. The result is a book that treats its subject with both honesty and empathy, never reducing it to horror for its own sake. Sacred and survival cannibalism, Aztec rituals reframed as Spanish propaganda, the Donner Party diaries, and cannibalism as a colonial weapon.