In the mid-1500s, French nobleman Michel de Montaigne1 traveled from Europe to the newly “discovered” American territories. There he met the newly colonized peoples of the Americas, also known as Brazilian “barbarians”, a term invented by the Europeans2 who had traveled there. Montaigne quickly shaped his own view of this group of peoples and, almost as quickly, made his views known to many European nobles in the form of an essay known as “On the Cannibals”3. His essay challenged the haughty denigration of Brazilian cannibals that had become so common among Montaigne's contemporaries, but not by arguing that cannibalism was a morally acceptable practice. Instead, Montaigne made the most provocative claim that, as barbaric as the Brazilian cannibals may have been, they were nowhere near as barbaric as the 16th-century Europeans themselves. "4 The Europeans, after finding the Brazilian natives, assumed that because of the nature in which they lived5, they were in fact savage like animals and they had to be taught to live properly. The word barbarian became almost synonymous of the Brazilian peoples and Montaigne had a problem with this He saw that the Brazilian peoples were much less barbaric than the Europeans thought, and he clearly refutes this in the document.6 “They are savages in the same way we say. that the fruits are wild, in which nature produces by itself and by its ordinary course."7Montaigne had the right idea by looking at the Brazilians, he knew that they were...... in the middle of a paper......seeing Montaigne in a postmodern perspective. Volume 16, number 1-2, pages 51-68. Kluwer Academic Publishers. This review was very interesting and helped me in my reading. I didn't really cite any, because there wasn't really anything specific I wanted to add to my article about it. This saw Montaigne from a postmodern perspective and opened up new perspectives for me to approach the subject he talks about. This slightly changed my perspective and opinion on the matter, which is why I included it here. It relates to my topic and helped me focus my studies.Zweig, Stefan. Montaigne. Frankfurt: Fischer. 2008. This novel describes a lot about Montaigne, it talks about his life, his travels and many other interesting subjects. Of course, this touches on his essay on cannibalism, and this is where it became most relevant to my studies. Very interesting read.