Desperation, duty and desire - the three primary motives for breaking what is the oldest taboo in the Western world, cannibalism. This book investigates all three and presents startling evidence that will challenge cultural and moral perceptions as never before.

Throughout history there have been instances of humans who, finding themselves in extremis, are forced to eat companions out of sheer desperation in order to survive. Do we reserve judgement in these circumstances, or is this behaviour simply an indication of the brutality that simmers under the surface of human civilization?

But, by far the most disturbing of the three types is 'desire cannibalism', practiced by men such as Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Kemper and Albert Fish who ate human flesh simply because they wanted to. If the second type of cannibalism shows what we humans are capable of under extreme stress, this third gives a chilling insight into what some of us require for emotional and sexual gratification.