Books

Subtitle "A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory". I'd always meant to read this book, one of the more famous in the Animal Rights movement, but only got around to it after my wife purchased a copy. I'm not sure what that says, but moving on... I now understand why this is such a classic in the movement. It has a tone and a style which can be difficult at times, but this makes you do the work of understanding it which is no bad thing. I was left pretty convinced of most of the points of the book. There is a long...

I rather like the name this book had previously, A Heretic's Feast. I think the publisher was right to ask the author to change it, but still what improved the marketing lessened the interestingness of the title. Well, what an amazing book. All through history, it seems people have questioned eating animals, in a way they perhaps haven't for other social issues. A modern animal rights activists will find speeches and writings that could just as easily be made today. We tend to think of our movement as modern, but it is incredible how thoughtful people were in the centuries...

I love how Safran Foer starts this book, talking about his grandmother's table. It gets very much to the heart of how, what seems an obvious improvement in the ethics of humanity, is actually so difficult. Caught up as we are in habit, story, family, friends, to make a change from these things is not easy for everyone, regardless of the ethics involved. Far easy to ignore any uncomfortable thoughts and conform. A reluctant and patchy vegetarian, he is in somewhat of an ideal place to talk about this topic. He is able to see that the ethical case is...

If there were one book I would want people to read on how to make a vegan world it would be this one. Cooney takes an approach I think we could do with a lot more of in our movement. Using science and data he looks at what these tell us about the most effective strategies for opening people up to a more compassionate diet and way of thinking. Reasoning our way to changing people can only take us so far, because people are often unpredictable and unreasonable. Truth is often counter-intuitive, so we need to take the approach of...

This book is for everyone who doesn't think we can yell our way to a vegan world. Using studies, reason and an easy to read writing style, Leenaert sets out his case for a pragmatic approach for behaviour change. A section of the animal rights community disagrees with the general approach of using the science of behaviour change, preferring instead to go with a morality led approach. I can only echo Christopher Hitchens, in that if you don't have good evidence for your approach, then I don't need to engage with it until you do. Leenaert starts with the end...

I had been vegan for a few years, done some volunteering for Animal Liberation Queensland, and read some of Peter Singer's other works before I finally read his classic Animal Liberation. I didn't really see why I needed to read it, after all, I was vegan and very much believed in Animal Liberation. As fate would have it I was given two copies of the book in the same week, and although a sceptic I believe in fate just enough not to tempt very obvious expressions of its desires so I had little choice but to start reading. What an...

"What the All-American Meal is Doing to the World". This book is a landmark book, one of those I often saw quoted in cool articles, so it was inevitable that I would read it. It lived up to all my expectations. We forget that fast food is a very modern phenomenon, and the megalithic corporations they have become have had a huge impact on our way of life, our environment and our health, all in a matter of a few decades. Whilst it is called "Fast Food Nation" it ranges far beyond the burger kings and describes the ideological environment...

The famous civil court case between the global might of the MacDonalds corporation, and two English vegetarians, is a lesson in how committed individuals can do great things. What started our with MacDonalds trying to quash public debate about their responsibility to society, turned into MacDonalds worst nightmare, an expose on their labour, animal welfare, environmental and advertising practises. Instead of backing down, two activists decided to defend themselves against one of the largest food corporations in the world. With a team of high priced lawyers, flown in executives, and virtually unlimited resources they managed only the barest of victories...

As someone who believes passionately in animal liberation, the fact that I have never gotten around to reading the ground breaking Animal Liberation by Peter Singer, was only due to slackness. To make up for this, and to get a feel for Singers other writings, I bought this book for a bargain price and proceeded to read. Singer generally tells it how it is, this book has sections on many themes, animal liberation, ethics, poverty and more. I did skip a couple of his more academic treatises, but being a book on so many topics, I guess it would be...

This beautiful book about the emotional lives of animals is one of my favourites. So often in cases of oppression, a line is attempted to be drawn that justifies it. For African American slaves the fact that they couldn't blush (which they could of course) meant they felt no shame and were a lesser species, for South American natives a court case was held to determine whether they were human and therefore worthy of any compassion. With animals, people attempt to deny, despite every external appearance to the contrary, that they feel pain. No evidence is produced to support this...