Twins in the World The Legends They Inspire and the Lives They Lead [Paperback]

In this compelling narrative Piontelli explores the different roles that twins play in societies around the world. In her travels around the world, Piontelli has studied the role of twins, especially throughout Africa, Asia, South America, and the Pacific rim, observing different cultural perspectives and how differing societies treat them.Introduction: A Personal Journey Our Twins Voodoo Twins Stone Idols The Big Shock Keepers and Outcasts Forced Adoption and the Sex Trade Let Nature Take its Course The Hold of Superstition Heart of Darkness One Gender and One Only Abuse and Neglect Till Death Us Do Part Bringing It All Back Home

Asking about twins, Alessandra Piontelli has made astonishing discoveries about human nature and culture. This brilliant book reads as an adventure story, taking us along on a remarkable doctor's travels into worlds so remote and yet so human that they illuminate many of our own quandaries about mothers and children. -Carol Gilligan, author of In a Different Voice

This fascinating book is about human ambivalence, indeed human cruelty towards twins. It can be found everywhere in the world. Is it that having twins overburdens our capacity to look after the young, or are there other reasons as well? Dr. Piontelli explores this odd dilemma with great learning and admirable imagination. -Jerome Bruner, author of The Process of Education

Twins in the World reads like a good novel, as well as good scientific observation. Piontelli shows us something wondrous, like the face of the moon up close. She then leads us around to the hidden side where we glimpse human nature and ourselves differently than ever before. - Daniel Stern, author of The Interpersonal World of the Infant

ALESSANDRA PIONTELLI?is Professor of Child Neuropsychiatry and Researcher in the Department of Maternal and Fetal Medicine at the University of Milan, ITALY. She is also the author of Twins: From Fetus to ChillÃX