The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought

At the edge of the world beyond the sea, they lived in mountains and swamps, deserts and dank spots, in places like India and Africa, habitats hostile to civilized society but home to the 'monstrous races'—deformed species of men. . . . With droll style and broad erudition, Friedman has produced a livdy chronicle of these curious creatures. But his book is not just about them; it is also about our enduring inability to view other cultures without prejudice. An extremely well-researched discussion of the legendary and for the most part actual races, from Amazons to Cyclops, who influenced European Christian thought and culture in the Middle Ages. . . . Friedman offers valuable insights into the growth not only of the dominative notion of alien and subject races under the conquistadors and in the age of exploration, but of our own present-day understanding of the self and the other, conceived in terms of nations.