Discourse on cannibalism as seen through the writings of German adventurer, Hans Staden, who was captured in South America in 1550 by the Tupi Indians, who had a reputation of cooking and eating their enemies. This is a new edition.

In 1550 the German adventurer Hans Staden was serving as a gunner in a Portuguese fort on the Brazilian coast. While out hunting, he was captured by the Tupinamba, an indigenous people who had a reputation for engaging in ritual cannibalism and who, as allies of the French, were hostile to the Portuguese. Staden's "True History," first published in Germany in 1557, tells the story of his nine months among the Tupi Indians. It is a dramatic first-person account of his capture, captivity, and eventual escape.

Staden's narrative is a foundational text in the history and European "discovery" of...