Among the Cannibals: Adventures on the Trail of Man's Darkest Ritual

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 288 pages
• Published by: Collins June 3, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 006135788X
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0061357886
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Weighs: 12.8 ounces

From Publishers Weekly
Australian Raffaele's quest for cannibals sent him around the world from the New Guinea highlands to the streets of Mexico City. Along the way he encountered necrophiliac Indian holy men, the brutalized child-victims of Uganda's civil war, and the iron-pumping king of Tonga. Raeffele's primary goal is to explore exactly what leads different cultures to violate one of humanity's greatest taboos. Yet Raffaele (a Smithsonian feature writer) is not above taking detours and his itinerary includes lessons in Tantric practices, drinking bouts with Tongan transvestites, and a tour of a Frida Kahlo exhibition. Raffaele is a competent adventure writer and has no problem asking questions along the lines of: "Have you eaten human flesh?" Unfortunately, he displays a less-than nuanced perspective, leading him to statements such as: "He is a mass killer whose humanity seems to have been almost entirely sucked out of him."' The fact that a number of the cultures he investigates haven't engaged in cannibalism in centuries makes his quest often seem misguided. Raffaele also needlessly tries to force the drama by phrasing his issues in the most lurid terms imaginable. What could have been a serious investigation of the most extreme varieties of human experience becomes a kind of cannibal farce.
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Product Review
"Raffaele is a fun writer who has proved his ability to illuminate the oddness of the world. Maybe it’s time for Smithsonian’s editors to bring him in from the boondocks and set him loose in the USA." -- Peter Carlson, Washington Post (January 8, 2007)

"Simply fascinating… Raffaele’s book is worth devouring." -- Associated Press

"Swashbuckling…A dark thrill ride to the extremes of behavior… reaches beyond adventure anthropology and achieves a tone of urgent humanity."

-- Kirkus Reviews

"Travel writer Raffaele’s adventures in search of real cannibals…Curl up with this book and a nice Chianti." -- New York Post, One of the top ten picks for Summer Reads

"[A] modern, non-fiction version of Conan Doyle’s The Lost World: a time-warp glimpse into man’s most primordial nightmare; exciting, fantastic, horrific - and a very well-written travel narrative." -- Peter Nichols, author of A Voyage for Madmen

Reader Reviews
Among the Cannibals is a fascinating book for anyone interested in other cultures and their practices - religious or otherwise. What makes this book particularly amazing is that the author truly did find people that are today practicing cannibalism. Raffaele even manages to make it seem acceptable because of that society's particular beliefs and mores. I had no problems reading the tales of the Korowai tribe's cannibalism. Nor did I take issue with the slightly more disturbing aspects of the Aghori sects in India. I think this was because all of these people come from an historical tradition of cannibalism. They believe that there is a reason for it. However, there was one thing that I found distressing. This was the coverage of the brutal cannibalism in Uganda perpetrated by the LRA. When someone is forced to eat human flesh, it is not cannibalism in its truest sense. It is torture in its evilest form. I believe Raffaele should have kept these horror stories out of this book. I think it would have served the world better had he then written a 2nd book about the atrocities in Uganda. It is writer's like Raffaele with their incredibly readable style of writing that manage to bring the terrible war stories to light in countries such as Uganda. Unfortunately, I think this is one story that will remain buried amongst the cannibals.