Cannibal Killers: The History of Impossible Murders [Paperback]

Moira Martingale (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1999

Anthropophagy: It's the crime that shocks us beyond all others. For the anthropophagite - neither acknowledging one of the last taboos of modern civilized society nor resisting an inordinate, savage, and perhaps uncontrollable bestial appetite - eats human flesh and drinks human blood. The anthropophagite murders to consume. Our fascination with cannibals, which has in recent time burgeoned with the publication of Thomas Harris's novels Hannibal and The Silence of the Lambs, lies as much in history as it does in fiction, for instances of cannibalism have for centuries cracked through the facade of civilization in human society. After tracing in quick, narrative strokes the history of cannibalism back to ancient China and recounting notorious crimes like those of Sawney Bean, who consumed more than one thousand victims over a period of twenty-five years in sixteenth-century Scotland, Moira Martingale chronicles the exploits of those few, uncommon criminals who have killed for flesh in the twentieth century. Among the subjects in Martingale's gallery are Jeffrey Dahmer, the murderer of seventeen young men; Edward Gein, who resorted to cannibalism after the death of his mother and provided Alfred Hitchcock with the role model for Norman Bates in Psycho, and, most infamous of all, reputedly the worst cannibal killer in modern history, the dreaded Russian Andrei Chokatilo.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Running Press; 2 edition (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786707038
• ISBN-13: 978-0786707034
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,379,420 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very Informative, June 23, 2000

By 

J. E. Nelson (Plainfield, Illinois) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cannibal Killers: The History of Impossible Murders (Paperback)

When I bought this book, I was expecting to be the stories of various cannibal killers throughout history. Indeed the book does cover, in pretty good detail, about 5 or 6 cannibal killers. However, the book also spends several chapters talking about the psychology behind cannibal and serial killers.

The various stories of the killers were chilling and a must read. The psychological portion of the book is a little "dry" to read, but explains a lot about cannibal and serial killers.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ahhhhh Creepy, September 19, 2000

By 

Kristin Gassner - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cannibal Killers: The History of Impossible Murders (Paperback)

Ya, that pretty much sums it up, But it was such a great book. I could not put it down, from start to finish i was hooked. I think i freaked out my parents thought but oh well, it was an extrodinary book, written in a way that almost made it seem like a fiction novel, but it was all true, gives me chills just thinking about it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very solid overview, well written, April 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Cannibal Killers: The History of Impossible Murders (Paperback)

This book is a well written, even wryly humorous at times, account of some of history's notorious cannibal killers. It describes all one would want to know about the individuals portrayed, and it ends with some summary information about what is known or theorized about cannibal killers as a species, so to speak. I recommend it to anyone with the stomach to inquire into this disturbing stuff, who is interested in an interesting and very readable overview of the subject.