Introduction : extraordinary beings
The literal and the symbolic
1. Alexander fights monsters in India
2. Monsters are nature's playthings
Natural history and credulity
3. Hermaphrodites and man-headed oxen
pt. 2. Medieval monsters : messages from God
6. Do monsters have souls?
Monsters and a creator god
Baptizing the monstrous races
"I have known much peril"
8. Possessing demons and witches
St. Anthony fights the demons
Monstrous desires revisited
pt. 3. Scientific monsters : the book of nature is riddled with typos
9. Natural history, freaks, and nondescripts
Eradicating the fantastic
Responding to the marvelous
A mischievous taxidermist
10. The medicalization of monsters
Pregnant women should not look upon monsters
Monsters and the mechanization of nature
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire's teratology
William Lawrence and the headless children
Monsters and transmutation
No monstrous jumps in nature
Mutationism and hopeful monsters
Alberch, Gould, and the return of the monsters
pt. 4. Inner monsters : the psychological aspects
12. The art of human vulnerability : angst and horror
Fear and cognitive mismatch
13. Criminal monsters : psychopathology, aggression, and the malignant heart
Monsters in the headlines
Monstrous desire revisited
The causes of psychopathology
Judging and managing the monsters
pt. V. Monsters today and tomorrow
14. Torturers, terrorists, and zombies : the products of monstrous societies
Monsters from the oppressed classes
15. Future monsters : robots, mutants, and posthuman cyborgs
Playing God : biotechnology
Are monsters in the eye of the beholder?
