RAT

"Rat traces the history of the rat-human relationship from the first archaeological finds to the genetically engineered rat of today, describing its role in the arts and sciences, religion and myth, folklore and society, medicine and psychoanalysis. The rat is to be found at the heart of human preoccupations with hygiene, intelligence, sexuality and appetite, and exists as a perverse totem for the worst excesses of human behaviour. This highly adaptable, fertile and intelligent creature is almost universally loathed, yet there are cultures in which it is revered, even deified. In Rat, Jonathan Burt provides a fascinating account of this animal in history, myth and culture."--Jacket.