Flesh and Blood: The History of the Cannibal Complex

Ms. Tannahill approaches her topic with a dry sense of humor. She really delves into the history of cannibalism and why it is such a taboo. The only part I didn't like came at the end when she was talking about serial killers and their "fifteen minutes of fame." It was on topic when discussing Jeffrey Dahmer and other cannibal killers but veered off course when she brought up Charles Manson and John Wayne Gacy, neither of whom were cannibals, and discussed how the media made them icons. It seemed like a subject for another book. Otherwise, this was a fascinating, well-researched book.

A rare print purchase; I've given up waiting for her non-fiction (and her other historical fiction) to be digitised. (She wrote the Earl of Moriston Mysteries under the pen name Annabel Laine.)

A pop science book; Tannahill takes as her theme cannibalism through history, and includes vampirism and lycanthropy as both deal with cannibalistic themes. I thought it a bit disorganised and rather anecdotal in style; she would skitter around both geographically and historically within the same chapter, and also discuss the three themes at once.

Recommended with reservations; it could do with a serious re-edit (which it almost certainly will never get - Tannahill died in 2007).

A delicious history about the history of cannibalism.