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The second edition of the fascinating but gruesome Bodies Under Siege by
Armando R. Favazza (Johns Hopkins University Press, £14/$16.95,
ISBN 0 8018 5300 1) explores the various ways in which people mutilate their
bodies. Favazza explores the historical background and offers insights into how
and why people do truly appalling things to their limbs, heads and genitals. He
pleads for understanding for a group of patients who are often seen as bizarre
and repellent. Not for the squeamish.