Petrinovich takes the reader through the history of cannibalism, citing evidence of instances of the practice from the 1600s to modern times. He describes examples of survival cannibalism, such as the 1972 Andes plane crash survivors and instances of cannibalism during Russian and Chinese famines, and of ritual cannibalism, as practiced by the Aztecs shortly before the Spanish conquest of Central America.

The author views cannibalism from an evolutionary perspective, believing that there is a set order to who is eaten when during instances of survival cannibalism. This order is based on the theory that a person will preserve those around him/her who will most greatly benefit his or her survival. Petrinovich also disputes claims that cannibalism is a myth, focusing special attention on Arens's "The man-eating myth." While he tends to stray at times, overall Petrinovich gives us a fascinating view of a practice that nearly all modern Americans see as one of the last universal taboos.

This highly informative book offers great science and great reading. Dr. Petrinovich has careully amassed evidence from a variety of sources. He shows that people in survival situations - shipwrecks, plane crashes, arctic exploration parties, major famines, concentration camps and gulags - follow the same set of strategies before engaging in cannibalism and, once they begin, show similar preferences for whom they would like to have for dinner. The survival stories are varied, instructive, and absolutely fascinating. I particularly enjoyed his discussion of the "lotteries" that determine who will get thrown out of the lifeboat or eaten. Everything is tied together by simple, powerful, Darwinian principles. Dr. Petrinovich has worked hard to achieve accuracy and he acknowledges opposing viewpoints. Although he discusses other forms of cannibalism, such as ritual cannibalism (based on human sacrifice) his main focus is surival cannibalism. He has just about convinced me that under sufficiently atrocious conditions (and they are indeed atrocious) there may be a small touch of "Hannibal Lecter" lurking within each and every one of us.

The book disappoints. Factually, there are very powerful cases of non-human animal bonding that exceeds even so-called normal human bonding. Secondly, the author neglects to take seriously the 'argument from marginal cases'. So, for example, autistic children, senile and retarded adult humans and the like, are simply incapable of even the minimal bonding that the author believes inhabits 'normal' humans. The result, on parity of reasoning, is that these marginal humans deserve lesser moral treatment. This seems at odds with our considered moral beliefs; indeed, many of us would think that these humans deserve extra care and consideration. The book is rather philosophically naive and leaves obvious objections unaddressed.

Petrinovich does an excellent job of laying out and then applying his particular theory of morality based on the implications of evolutionary biology -- essentially, Petrinovich believes traditional morality is governed to a large extent by sociobiological considerations and that in turn we can learn how to apply morality to controversial issues such as animal rights by examining the evolutionary implications of our actions.

Much of the book is concerned with the debate over animal testing for medical research, and this part of the book is outstanding. Petrinovich aptly defends medical experimentation and punctures holes in both the factual and philosophical claims of animal rights activists, while at the same time presenting a realistic look at genuine problems and debates over medical research.

Unfortunately the book is marred by the final two chapters, one on meat eating and and other on zoos & pets, which seem tacked on to the book as an afterthought. Neither chapter even comes close to the level of the rest of the book -- whereas Petrinovich is very familiar with the literature on medical experimentation, for example, his review of issues in animal agriculture are cursory and rely on a handful of sources with little attempt at a balanced review.

Still, Petrinovich's book is an important contribution to the debate over how humans treat animals.