Man Corn: Cannibalism and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest. Christy G. Turner and Jacqueline A. Turner. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 1999

Human sacrifice and cannibalism, the potential for institutionalized violence or warfare, witchcraft or sorcery, and ritual executions are emotionally charged issues; but some anthropologists and other learned scholars now suggest that these activities and behaviors occurred in the American Southwest, a region usually depicted for peace, harmony, tranquility, and spirituality. Christy Turner, Regents' Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Arizona State University, and his late wife, Jacqueline (1934-1996), are the co-authors of Man Corn. The book's title derives from the Nahuatl word tlacatlaolli, a "sacred meal of sacrificed human meat, cooked with corn." The Nahuatl and Mesoamerican connections are more than coincidental. The idea for this volume was conceived in 1958, and Christy dedicates the volume to the memory of his wife. They comment (p. 8) that "re­search on cannibalism has not been free of controversy or political and professional censuring" and they cite instances where their work has been disbelieved, dismissed, or admonished.