“Sanday argues that ritual cannibalism is intimately connected both with the constructs by which the origin and continuity of life are understood and assured from one generation to the next as well as with the way in which that understanding is used to control the vital forces considered necessary for the reproduction of society. She reveals that the presence or absence of cannibalism in a culture derives from basic human attitudes toward life and death, combined with the realities of the material world.”

Publisher: Cambridge University
Paperback: 206 pages

The rise and fall of red-crossed Knights Templar crusaders. The origins, the flourishing, the suppression and the afterlife. “The Order of the Temple, founded in 1119 to protect pilgrims around Jerusalem, developed into one of the most influential corporations in the medieval world. It has retained its hold on the modern imagination, thanks to the dramatic events of the Templars’ trial and abolition 200 years later, and has been invoked in historical mysteries from Masonic conspiracy to the survival of the Turin shroud.” GR

Publisher: Cambridge University
Paperback: 441 pages
Illustrated

“Studies three aspects of the events leading up to the Final Solution in Nazi Germany. First, Nazis’ solutions to their self-imposed ‘Jewish problem,’ before resorting to mass murder, are examined, specifically ghettoization and early resettlement plans to expel Jews to Eastern Poland or the island of Madagascar. Second, the responsibility of shaping Nazi Jewish policy is shown to extend to the lower and middle echelon of government, through accommodation and conformity of a wide variety of perpetrators, including bureaucrats, doctors and policemen. Finally the role of Adolf Hitler in the decision making process is examined, with a historiographical analysis of other accounts of his role. Browning argues that while Hitler did not operate according to a premeditated plan or blueprint, he did make the key decisions.”

Publisher: Cambridge University
Paperback: 207 pages

“Do not think for a moment that I intend to invite you to the same hazardous enterprise! Or even only to the same solitude! For he who proceeds on his own path in this fashion encounters no one: That is inherent in ‘proceeding on one’s own path.’ No one comes along to help him: all the perils, accidents, malice and bad weather which assail him he has to tackle himself… I descended into the depths, I tunneled into the foundations, I commenced an investigation and digging out of an ancient faith, one upon which we philosophers have for a couple of millennia been accustomed to build as if upon the firmest of all foundations—and have continued to do so even though every building hitherto erected on them has fallen down: I commenced to undermine our faith in morality. But you do not understand me?”

Publisher: Cambridge University
Paperback: 233 pages