Nine Steps to Eden” demands an end to the livestock industry. No more meat. No more dairy. This is not only easy to imagine, it is easy to achieve. We just need to make different choices about the foods that we eat. This is a book that asks us, through nine simple thoughts, to reject “the meat delusion” – the lie that says that it is okay for us to kill trillions of animals every year with extreme violence, and in our desire for animal flesh plunder the world’s seas and oceans, rainforests and savannahs, and ruin our health and bodies as we eat the bodies of those we have killed. This book is about our attitude towards those animals on our farms and slaughterhouses. As such, it is about violence and cruelty and brutality and killing. It is about why none of that needs to happen anymore.
A hugely intelligent and articulate book demolishing every argument for eating meat.Will become a cult classic within the Animal Rights movement, without a doubt.
ETERNAL TREBLINKA: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust, by Charles Patterson, Ph.D., explores the similar attitudes and methods behind modern society’s treatment of animals and the way humans have often treated each other, most notably during the Holocaust. The book’s epigraph and title are from “The Letter Writer,” a story by the Yiddish writer and Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer: “In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka.”
The first part of the book (Chapters 1-2) describes the emergence of human beings as the master species and their domination over the rest of the inhabitants of the earth. The second part (Chapters 3-5) examines the industrialization of slaughter (of both animals and humans) that took part in modern times. The last part of the book (Chapters 6-8) profiles Jewish and German animal advocates on both sides of the Holocaust, including Isaac Bashevis Singer himself.
The Foreword is by Lucy Rosen Kaplan, former attorney for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and daughter of Holocaust survivors.
Recommended because it shows the direct link between the abuse of animals and the appalling horror of the holocaust.
Suggest to the average leftist that animals should be part of broader liberation struggles and – once they stop laughing – you’ll find yourself casually dismissed. Starting from this scepticism regarding animal liberation, Bob Torres draws broadly upon left theory to show how human oppression and animal oppression are intertwined through the exploitative dynamics of capitalism. With a focus on labour, property, and the life of commodities, Making a Killing contains key insights on the nature of domination, power, and hierarchy, and argues for a critical social theory that understands the human domination of nature in terms of the domination of human by human. An eye-opener for readers concerned with progressive politics, animal welfare or both. Concluding with an analysis of the political praxis of veganism, the book puts forth an abolitionist theory of animal rights that challenges thinking both within the broader left and the animal rights movement.
Recommended because Bob Torres shows how being interested in animal rights can not and should not be divorced from being interested in politics and the politicisation of exploitation.
Biologist Marc Bekoff is one of the world’s foremost experts on animal emotions. After years of fieldwork studying the communication patterns of coyotes and domestic dogs, Bekoff began challenging the scientific status quo that argued that no scientific proof existed that animals even have emotions, an argument that stubbornly persists today.In “The Emotional Lives of Animals”, Bekoff moves beyond this academic argument to address what every animal lover and pet owner knows from everyday observation: that animals have rich emotional lives that not only can teach us about love, empathy and compassion but that require us to alter radically our current relationship of domination and abuse with them. Here, Bekoff skilfully blends extraordinary stories and anecdotes of animal grief, joy, embarrassment, anger and love with the latest scientific research confirming emotions that simple, commonsense observation has long pointed to. Filled with Bekoff’s light humour and touching stories from animals around the world, “The Emotional Lives of Animals” will cause readers to reassess both how they view animals and how they treat them.
Recommended because it expresses the deep and profound truth that non human animals are indeed emotional people who feel as well as live.
Defining speciesism as “a failure, in attitude or practice, to accord any nonhuman being equal consideration and respect,” this brilliant work critiques speciesism both outside and inside the animal rights movement. Much moral philosophy, legal theory and animal advocacy aimed at advancing nonhuman emancipation, actually perpetuate speciesism, the book demonstrates. Speciesism examines philosophy, law and activism in terms of three categories: “old speciesism,” “new speciesism,” and “species equality.” Old-speciesists limit rights to humans. SPECIESISM refutes their standard arguments against nonhuman rights. Current law is old-speciesist; legally, nonhumans have no rights. “Animal laws” such as the Humane Slaughter Act afford nonhumans no meaningful protection, Dunayer shows. She, also, explains why welfare campaigns are old-speciesist. Instead of opposing the abuse or killing of nonhuman beings, such campaigns seek only to make abuse or killing less cruel; they propose alternative ways of violating nonhumans’ moral rights. New-speciesists espouse rights for only some nonhumans, those whose minds seem most like humans’. In addition to devaluing most animals, new-speciesists give greater moral consideration and stronger basic rights to humans than to any nonhumans. They see animal kind as a hierarchy with humans at the top. Dunayer explains why she categorizes such theorists as Peter Singer, Tom Regan and Steven Wise as new-speciesists. Non-speciesists advocate rights for every sentient being. SPECIESISM makes the case that every creature with a nervous system should be regarded as sentient. The book provides compelling evidence of consciousness in animals often dismissed as insentient. Dunayer argues that every sentient being should possess basic legal rights, including rights to life and liberty. Radically egalitarian, SPECIESISM envisions non-speciesist thought, law and action.
Recommended because this book should be the bible for everyone who is interested in animal rights. In uncompromising and clearly logical language Joan Dunayer demonstates that speciesism has no place in a society that wants to be civilised.
“Slaughterhouse” is the first book of its kind to explore the impact that unprecedented changes in the meatpacking industry over the last twenty-five years – particularly industry consolidation, increased line speeds, and deregulation – have had on workers, animals, and consumers. It is also the first time ever that workers have spoken publicly about what’s really taking place behind the closed doors of America’s slaughterhouses. In this new paperback edition, author Gail A Eisnitz brings the story up-to-date since the book’s original publication. She describes the ongoing efforts by the Humane Farming Association to improve conditions in the meatpacking industry, media exposes that have prompted reforms resulting in multi-million dollar appropriations by Congress to try to enforce federal inspection laws, and a favourable decision by the Supreme Court to block construction of what was slated to be one of the largest hog factory farms in the country. Nonetheless, Eisnitz makes it clear that abuses continue and much work still needs to be done.
Recommended because it exposes the harsh but unavoidable reality of what slaughterhouses mean in our modern world not only and most obviously for the animals but also for the workers and their families and the wider environment.
This accessible and cutting-edge work offers a new look at the history of western civilization, one that brings into focus the interrelated suffering of oppressed humans and other animals. Nibert argues that the oppression both of humans and of other species of animals is inextricably tangled within the structure of social arrangements. Nibert asserts that human use and mistreatment of other animals are not natural and do little to further the human condition.
Recommended because this book uses the latest anthropological research to describe the origin of our wholly unatural meat eating and animal abusing habits.
This is a book about farm animals – chickens, cows, sheep and goats – and what they think and feel. As with his previous bestsellers on animal emotions, Jeffrey Masson reveals that these creatures, so often despised or abused, feel complex emotions – among them love, loyalty, friendship, sadness, grief and sorrow. The domesticated animals which live on our farms are very little removed from their wild ancestors, and keep the emotions that belong to those animals when they lived free. This means that the confinement farm animals are subjected to is painful to them and that those enduring factory farm conditions are suffering little less than torture. Thinking about the wild ancestors of farm animals allows us to answer many questions that were once considered unanswerable. Those answers, however uncomfortable, are at last providing insights into the personalities and needs of the animals on whom we depend.
Recommended because Jeffrey Masson expresses in language that is at the same time heartfelt, beautiful and utterly scientific the profound reality of the inner lives of those animals we treat so appallingly on our farms.
If you can’t take one more day of self-loathing, you’re ready to hear the truth: you cannot keep shovelling the same crap into your mouth every day and expect to lose weight. Not for the faint-hearted, “Skinny Bitch” tells it like it is, delivering the truth about food so that readers can make informed, educated decisions about what they put in their bodies. Much more than just the next fad diet, “Skinny Bitch” outlines a way of life that will help readers make healthy choices.
Recommended because it is very informative, delves into AR and health, provides brands of vegan friendly shoe clothes, websites, etc (Dawn)
Two-thirds of Americans polled by the Associated Press agree with the following statement: ‘An animal’s right to live free of suffering should be just as important as a person’s right to live free of suffering’. More than 50 percent of Americans believe that it is wrong to kill animals to make fur coats or to hunt them for sport. But these same Americans eat hamburgers, take their children to circuses and rodeos, and use products developed with animal testing. How do we justify our inconsistency? In this easy-to-read introduction, animal rights advocate Gary Francione looks at our conventional moral thinking about animals. Using examples, analogies, and thought-experiments, he reveals the dramatic inconsistency between what we say we believe about animals and how we actually treat them. “Introduction to Animal Rights: Your Child or the Dog?” provides a guidebook to examining our social and personal ethical beliefs. It takes us through concepts of property and equal consideration to arrive at the basic contention of animal rights: that everyone human and non-human has the right not to be treated as a means to an end. Along the way, it illuminates concepts and theories that all of us use but few of us understand the nature of ‘rights’ and ‘interests’, for example, and the theories of Locke, Descartes, and Bentham. Filled with fascinating information and cogent arguments, this is a book that you may love or hate, but that will never fail to inform, enlighten, and educate. Gary L. Francione is Professor of Law and Nicholas de B. Katzenbach Scholar of Law and Philosophy at Rutgers University Law School, Newark. He is the author of “Animals, Property, and the Law” and “Rain Without Thunder: The Ideology of the Animal Rights Movement”
Recommended because clearly sets out the reasons why society treats animals as property and discusses the various forms of animal exploitation. The book goes on to discuss the principles of treating all sentient creatures as having equal worth and the abolition of animal exploitation, taking veganism as the moral baseline. An excellent scholarly, but readable, book. (Alan O Reilly)
In this second edition of the informative and practical guide, two seasoned vegans help readers learn to love their inner freak. Loaded with tips, advice and stories, this book is the key to helping people thrive as a happy, healthy and sane vegan in a decidedly non-vegan world. Sometimes funny, sometimes irreverent and sometimes serious, this is a guide that’s truly not afraid to tell it like it really is.
Recommended because it’s really helpful. Their podcasts really helped me back then too. (Skai Van den Veyver)
In Being Vegan, renowned activist and award-winning on-line columnist Joanne Stepaniak presents the definitive Q&A primer on an often misunderstood life choice. Fielding questions from friends and foes, she describes how compassion, kindness, and mercy to animals can be integrated into everyday life. It covers living the vegan philosophy and ethic, discovering hidden animal products and ingredients, and more.
Recommended because it explains just about all the issues in short, compasionate and logical ways. Includes history of veganism and even origin of the word vegan. It’s not alienating to anyone, easily accesible. (Matthew Roberts)
With a straightforward, clear approach, Marcus details the health advances, the social advantages, and the ethical progress, as regards the animals who share our planet, to be achieved from adopting a diet entirely based on plants. In a revised edition, this book promises to continue the steady spread of this message.
Recommended because I read it in the first three months of being vegan and it really helped to ground me. (Emily Bennett)
Part Medical Thriller, Part Governmental Expose and Part Nutrition Manual. Dr. Campbell issues a stark warning against the imminent “Atkins Backlash”. This is NOT a diet book. Consumers are bombarded with conflicting messages regarding health and nutrition; the market is flooded with popular titles like “The Atkins Diet” and “The South Beach Diet”. Dr. Campbell cuts through the haze of misinformation and delivers an insightful message to anyone living with cancer, diabetes, heart disease, obesity and those concerned with the effect of ageing. Dr. Campbell challenges the validity of these low-carb fad diets and issues a startling warning to their followers. “The New York Times” has recognised the study (“China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project”) as the “Grand Prix of epidemiology” and the “most comprehensive large study ever undertaken of the relationship between diet and the risk of developing disease”.
Recommended because it gives an academic, peer reviewed, eye opening view into how eating meat and dairy affects our health negatively.
‘I simply wanted to know – for myself and my family – what meat is. Where does it come from? How is it produced? What are the economic, social and environmental effects? Are there animals that it is straightforwardly right to eat? Are there situations in which not eating animals is wrong? If this began as a personal quest, it didn’t stay that way for long . . . ‘
Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals is the most original book on the subject of food written this century. It will change the way you think, and change the way you eat.
For good.
Recommended because this book will open anyone’s eyes. Not only to the murder of animals, but the forced imprisonment and complete and utter torture they are forced to live throughout their miserable existence. Aaron Lazare
The authors of this text explore the benefits of a vegan diet, and eating without eggs or dairy products. In addition they explain why more and more people are being motivated to become vegans and discuss the consequences of their choice.
Recommended because it’ll give you some good solid nutritional information, that’s really useful in world full of rumours and pseudo-science. (SkaiVan den Veyver) Becoming vegan is a good diet/nutrition planning book. (Emma Schembri)
Takes a hard look at the average American’s diet and the health problems it causes, describes the methods used in raising and slaughtering animals for our meat and poultry, and suggests healthful alternatives.
Are ‘animal welfare’ supporters indistinguishable from the animal exploiters they oppose? Do reformist measures reaffirm the underlying principles that make animal exploitation possible in the first place? In this provocative book, Gary L. Francione argues that the modern animal rights movement has become indistinguishable from a century-old concern with the welfare of animals that in no way prevents them from being exploited. Francione maintains that advocating humane treatment of animals retains a sense of them as instrumental to human ends. When they are considered dispensable property, he says, they are left fundamentally without ‘rights’. Until the seventies, Francione claims, this was the paradigm within which the Animal Rights Movement operated, as demonstrated by laws such as the Federal Humane Slaughter Act of 1958. In this wide-ranging book, Francione takes the reader through the philosophical and intellectual debates surrounding animal welfare to make clear the difference between animal rights and animal welfare. Through case studies such as campaigns against animal shelters, animal laboratories, and the wearing of fur, Francione demonstrates the selectiveness and confusion inherent in reformist programs that target fur, for example, but leave wool and leather alone. The solution to this dilemma, Francione argues, is not in a liberal position that espouses the humane treatment of animals, but in a more radical acceptance of the fundamental inalienability of animal rights. Author note: Gary L. Francione is Professor of Law and Nicholas de B. Katzenbach Scholar of Law at Rutgers University Law School, Newark. He is the co-director of the “Rutgers Animal Rights Law Center” and the author of “Animals, Property, and the Law” (Temple).
Recommended because ‘ This is a more ‘academic’ book than Introduction to Animal Rights and is therefore a more difficult read. Worth it, however, because it discusses in great detail the two approaches to ending animal exploitation, removing demand via vegan education as opposed to animal welfare and regulation.’ (Alan O’Reilly)
Recommended because it is good book for new vegan parents. I was given it recently and enjoyed reading some bits with my child. (Katrina Kuzminas)
Food is our most intimate and telling connection both with the living natural order and with our living cultural heritage. By eating the plants and animals of our earth, we literally incorporate them. It is also through this act of eating that we partake of our culture’s values and paradigms at the most primal levels. It is becoming increasingly obvious, however, that the choices we make about our food are leading to environmental degradation, enormous human health problems, and unimaginable cruelty toward our fellow creatures. Incorporating systems theory, teachings from mythology and religions, and the human sciences, The World Peace Diet presents the outlines of a more empowering understanding of our world, based on a comprehension of the far-reaching implications of our food choices and the worldview those choices reflect and mandate. The author offers a set of universal principles for all people of conscience, from any religious tradition, that they can follow to reconnect with what we are eating, what was required to get it on our plate, and what happens after it leaves our plates.
The World Peace Diet suggests how we as a species might move our consciousness forward so that we can be more free, more intelligent, more loving, and happier in the choices we make.
