For starters, let's dispense with the cheap jokes about cannibalism. That means cracks about giving an arm and a leg (sorry) for a good book on the subject, or similar tasteless (sorry

again) attempts to make the subject more palatable (last one). The fact is, the gags (really the last one, I promise) that pop up when discussions turn to the consumption of human flesh are

defense mechanisms against the train-wreck fascination we have for the subject. When we move beyond the one-liners, though, nonfiction accounts of cannibalism provide a window into the

farthest reaches of human nature, from desperate bids for survival to significant — and yes, disturbing — practices of lost cultures. I came to this topic through a book I was writing about

CULINARY TABOO IN THE HEART OF THE SEA _by Nathaniel Philbrick_ Nathaniel Philbrick's _In the Heart of the Sea_ has rightfully taken its place as a classic for its literary merits. It

has a special place in the cannibalism canon, as well. In 1820, after 15 months at sea, the Nantucket whaleship _Essex_ was rammed and sunk by an enraged sperm whale. How's this for

irony: Fearing cannibals on the relatively nearby islands of the South Pacific, the 20-member crew set off in tiny boats for the South American coast, nearly 3000 miles away. One after

another they perished. When two final survivors were found, Philbrick writes, "they were sucking the marrow from the bones of their dead shipmates." It's a tribute to

Philbrick's research and his eloquence that, despite the horrors, readers come away with renewed appreciation for the human spirit. ALIVE _by Piers Paul Read_ In October 1972, a plane

carrying 45 people, including a Uruguayan rugby club, crashed in the Andes. A dozen people died in the crash and several more died shortly after, eventually leaving 16 survivors facing

bitter cold with little food and almost no chance of rescue. When they heard a report on a patched-together radio that the search had been called off, they knew that they could rely only on

themselves — and on the remains of their fellow passengers. The bodies preserved in the snow around them weren't strangers; they were friends, teammates and family members. Yet the

survivors found strength in each other, in their desire to live, and in their faith, and eventually all chose the only option left to them. It was their salvation. CANNIBAL VALLEY _by

Russell T. Hitt_ Russell Hitt tells the true story of missionaries who came to the New Guinea in 1954. They hoped to bring Christianity to Dani tribespeople whose practices included not only

cannibalism but also "wife-stealing, orgiastic feasts, [and] barbaric funeral rites." In one particularly powerful chapter, "Cannibal Feast," he describes the reaction

of a missionary named Ed Maxey as a fallen warrior is butchered. Ed's son Buzz remains in the valley to this day, and he told me that although many Dani people remain rooted in the

past, cannibalism has been long abandoned.