Vegetarianism

A History
Colin Spencer

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 since axial age.

It is partly important for people to understand this because many animal rights activists just think it is about making the right arguments, and it will be a salient lesson for them that those very same arguments have been made a long time ago, and haven't worked.

I hope this book is updated regularly as we improve our scholarly understanding of the history of question our treatment of animal.  It is an important book to read, and I think anyone who wants to change the world for animals, should put this in their list of reading.

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