Books Archive – Page 7 of 18

Indefensible

Cover art by Sue Coe.

A Humane Society lawyer uncovers the dirty dealings of America’s factory farms, and shows how we can reimagine farming and our relationship with animals to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Peter Brandt, a litigator at the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), has been at the forefront of some of the toughest cases of animal abuse in the last ten years—including supervising a team of lawyers working to protect the interests of farm animals. In this revelatory and often surprisingly funny memoir-cum-manifesto, Brandt describes his growing awareness of the extent of the cruelty of animals in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (a.k.a. factory farms), and the manifold harms to human health, local communities, and the environment for those who live near them. He shows how it’s a world of enormous suffering, sustained by deliberate secrecy and misinformation, and reeking of corruption and lagoons full of ordure.

Brandt details his realization of intensive animal farming’s further costs to wild creatures and their habitats, as well as clean water and clean air, and demonstrates how curbing animal agriculture is one of the few ways to make an immediate positive difference to climate change.

Catching Dawn

Catch the trailer to Catching Dawn here!

A gritty and inspiring memoir of a dog rescuer in rural Tennessee and the obstacles and insights she encountered in her attempt to rescue one animal in particular.

What would you do to save a dog?

Night delivers a litter of eight puppies in a poor neighborhood in Springfield, Tennessee the week before Melissa Armstrong first meets her. As a volunteer for a local nonprofit, Melissa has experience with strays and plans to rescue Night and her litter within days. But nothing goes as planned. For the next six months, Melissa and a ragtag cast of characters try to trap the mutt with nets, catchpoles, spring traps, cheeseburgers, hot dogs stuffed with Benadryl, and the dog’s crying puppies. They fail so many times that Melissa is on the brink of giving up. But when she learns about the brutal way the local police department controls the overpopulation problem in Night’s neighborhood, she reaffirms her promise to a dog. She vows to rescue her, no matter the consequences.

Catching Dawn is a beautifully written story of how Night became Dawn, and of the other dogs who have brought joy and heartbreak, moments of transcendence and despair, and unconditional love to the author’s life. Catching Dawn is also a vividly told and thoughtful reflection on the many highs and lows of caring for animals and humans in difficult circumstances; a gritty exposé of the consequences of animal overpopulation in the rural South; and the story of how a homeless dog helps a woman move through personal grief and upheaval to rediscover the meaning of family.

“Catching Dawn is so much more than a beautifully rendered story about one stray dog in Tennessee and her rescue. It’s a deeply touching, keenly observed, and intimate memoir about finding one’s way home.”—Peter Zheutlin, bestselling author of Rescue Road

“Catching Dawn is a beautifully written and engrossing read that left me feeling incredibly hopeful for stray, lost, and discarded dogs. The plights of these dogs are treacherous, but people like Melissa Armstrong will do anything they can to help them find safety and happiness. Like Melissa, the dogs in her story go from lost to found, from drifting to secure, from scared to content. In the process of reading these riveting scenes of selflessness, determination, and love, I was reminded that even in our darkest moments, there is always the promise of morning and a bright ray of light on the horizon.”—Julie Barton, New York Times bestselling author of Dog Medicine: How My Dog Saved Me From Myself

The Cowgirl and the Racehorse

An intimate examination of cowgirl narratives, horseback riding, and the characters and personalities of the animals who have accompanied the author from childhood to the present.

The Cowgirl and the Racehorse offers a moving, intimate, and richly descriptive memoir of the relationship between a girl and her horses. Beginning with her account of a traumatic horse-riding accident, Wells reflects on the personalities and characters of the many horses—both real and fictional—who have accompanied her through often difficult life experiences, teaching her strength, resilience, discipline, care, and trust.

The Cowgirl and the Racehorse is also a scholarly reflection on the many cowgirl narratives—films, music, and books—that have marked the author’s life passages and which offer complex and compelling images for girls as they grow: particularly in terms of their independence of spirit and the social and familial expectations with which they are burdened. Finally, The Cowgirl and the Racehorse is a detailed examination of the ethical and societal questions raised by the sometimes dangerous and cruel, and sometimes seductive and compelling, world of horseback riding.

The {bio}graphies series explores the relationships between human and nonhuman animals through scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences viewed through the lens of autobiography and memoir, to deepen and complicate our perspectives on the other beings with whom we share the planet.

The Vegan Matrix

A short guidebook to understanding and discussing privilege among vegans and vegan organizations in the wake of #metoo, including how to establish accountability while honoring dignity and ways to communicate effectively.

In The Vegan Matrix, psychologist, longtime vegan advocate, and organizational head Dr. Melanie Joy explores a serious problem in the vegan movement—unexamined privilege—and looks at the struggle to communicate effectively about this problem in a way that helps offset it. Using simple, straightforward language and a compassionate tone, Joy explains what privilege is, why it’s so important for vegans to become aware of it, and how to talk about it in a way that deepens understanding and helps transform it. In so doing, Joy unpacks some of the many privileges that must be acknowledged and addressed, and calls for more inclusivity and diversity within vegan organizations and the movement as a whole. The Vegan Matrix is a call to awareness and action, empowering vegans to reach a broader audience and to help create a more compassionate and just world.

“Building on her seminal work with carnism and powerarchy, in The Vegan Matrix Melanie Joy offers another vital treatise that provides crucial guidance for vegan advocates, especially those of us who are privileged. This cogent book encourages humility, learning, and the radical empathy necessary for healing and for helping to build a powerful vegan movement.”—Gene Baur, Cofounder and President of Farm Sanctuary

“Rather than entrench divisions, Melanie Joy aims to create a stronger movement, literate in the issues of privilege and oppression, and empowered to create change. Everyone looking to transform the world for the better should read this book.”—Leah Garcés, President of Mercy for Animals

“This book is an easy primer for people to learn about privilege through clear examples, and it provides easy references for people who want to learn more.”—Christopher Sebastian, author, researcher, and Columbia University lecturer

“The Vegan Matrix is practical, focused on impact, and completely accessible to anybody who wants to grow as an advocate and do more for animals. The book provides an outline for how we can lead and communicate effectively to create the strongest movement possible.”—David Coman-Hidy, President of The Humane League

An example of Melanie Joy’s work and insights in The Vegan Matrix can be found in this video.

The Clean Pet Food Revolution

Did you know that a quarter of all the meat consumed in the United States is eaten by our pets? That’s the equivalent to the amount devoured by 26 million Americans, and it makes U.S. cats and dogs equal to the fifth largest country in terms of animal protein consumption. Yet the impact pet food has on the environment and climate change, how healthy or necessary it is for our animal companions, or how it impacts the welfare of the farmed animals who become that food are barely known or ignored—even by animal lovers!

The Clean Pet Food Revolution lifts the lid on the current pet food industry; its claims of what constitutes a “natural” diet for pets, its shocking record on animal welfare, and its devastating effect on the environment and climate change. The book explodes myths about “grain-free” diets, protein intake, and what our pets “want.” Finally, it details the many exciting scientific developments in alternative proteins—whether from plants, fungi, insects, or cell-based meat products—that promise not only to completely change what we feed our cats and dogs but to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, end farmed-animal slaughter, and make our pets healthier.

Written by specialists in veterinary science, biotech, and animal welfare, The Clean Pet Food Revolution is a thoroughly researched and compellingly written excoriation of an unsustainable present and a fascinating glimpse of future possibilities.

La Dieta de la Paz Mundial

¿Qué es tan simple como comer una manzana? Y sin embargo, ¿qué podría ser más sagrado o profundo? La comida es nuestra conexión más íntima y reveladora, tanto con el orden natural como con nuestro patrimonio cultural. Pero cada vez está más claro que lo que elegimos para comer hoy en día conduce a la degradación del medio ambiente, a enormes problemas de salud humana y a una crueldad inimaginable hacia otras criaturas.

La Dieta de la Paz Mundial presenta las líneas maestras para entender el mundo de forma más enriquecedora, a partir de la comprensión de las implicaciones de largo alcance de nuestras elecciones alimenticias. Al incorporar la teoría general de sistemas, enseñanzas de la mitología y de las religiones y las ciencias humanas, Will Tuttle ofrece un conjunto de principios universales para todas las personas de conciencia, de cualquier tradición religiosa, que muestran cómo nosotros, como especie, podemos hacer avanzar nuestra conciencia, permitiéndonos ser más libres, más inteligentes, más amorosos y más felices en las elecciones que hacemos.

Desde su publicación en 2005, La Dieta de la Paz Mundial y su autor, Will Tuttle, han llegado a cientos de miles de personas en todo el mundo y han creado un nuevo movimiento de gente que hace una conexión consciente con una dieta saludable y una vida sin crueldad, comprometida espiritual, psicológica y socialmente a la no violencia y a la auténtica sostenibilidad.

Tongue-Tied

Words matter; they mold and mirror our values and our reality. And so it is with the language we use to think and talk about species other than our own. In Tongue-Tied, Hanh Nguyen unpacks the many metaphors, meanings, and grammatical formulations that speak to and echo our physical exploitation of other-than-human animals, and shows how they constrain our abilities to relate to our animal kin fairly and honestly.

Full of subtle insights and richly suggestive observations, and drawing from Nguyen’s own cross-cultural experiences, Tongue-Tied offers a glimpse of a language that is freed from euphemistic self-deception, one that accepts definition without limitation and difference without hierarchy.

“The animal rights movement has come under regular criticism for being ‘Eurocentric’ and failing to adequately attend to cultural differences. Nguyen provides insights for moving beyond this, often unwitting, chauvinism. From her distinct multi-linguistic experiences growing up in Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand, Nguyen insightfully explores the way language works to continually marginalize other-than-human animals. She calls for critical engagement with the words we use to refer to ourselves and other animals in our work to achieve both linguistic and embodied justice.”—Lori Gruen, author, Entangled Empathy