Almost every society in human history has either dabbled in, or embraced whole-heartedly, cannibalism. Why is it then that in our time the consuming of human meat is regarded as the last taboo – ranked alongside other acts of a shocking and nefarious nature such as incest?
Fascinated at how cannibalism has been almost ubiquitous throughout history (not to mention a practice enjoyed by almost every other species), Tahir Shah set out to discuss the social history of people-eating from our ancient ancestors to the medieval Crusaders, to the feasting on cabin boys in the Napoleonic era, to the gruesome cannibal-killers of the modern internet age.
An extraordinary thought-provoking essay, CANNIBALISM: IT’S ONLY MEAT is certain to horrify a great many readers, and will leave all who reach the end with a sense of revelation at what is the last taboo.
Tahir Shah was born in London, and raised primarily at the family’s home, Langton House, in the English countryside – where founder of the Boy Scouts, Lord Baden Powell was also brought up.
Along with his twin and elder sisters, Tahir was continually coaxed to regard the world around him through Oriental eyes. This included being exposed from early childhood to Eastern stories, and to the back-to-front humour of the wise fool, Nasrudin.
Having studied at a leading public school, Bryanston, Tahir took a degree in International Relations, his particular interest being in African dictatorships of the mid-1980s. His research in this area led him to travel alone through a wide number of failing African states, including Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Zaire.
After university, Tahir embarked on a plethora of widespread travels through the Indian subcontinent, Latin America, and Africa, drawing them together in his first travelogue, Beyond the Devil’s Teeth. In the years that followed, he published more than a dozen works of travel. These quests – for lost cities, treasure, Indian magic, and for the secrets of the so-called Birdmen of Peru – led to what is surely one of the most extraordinary bodies of travel work ever published.
In the early 2000s, with two small children, Tahir moved his young family from an apartment in London’s East End to a supposedly haunted mansion in the middle of a Casablanca shantytown. The tale of the adventure was published in his bestselling book, The Caliph’s House.
In recent years, Tahir Shah has released a cornucopia of work, embracing travel, fiction, and literary criticism. He has also made documentaries for National Geographic TV and the History Channel, and published hundreds of articles in leading magazines, newspapers, and journals. His oeuvre is regarded as exceptionally original and, as an author, he is considered as a champion of the new face of publishing.