For the Love of Animals: The Rise of the Animal Protection Movement

By Kathryn Shevelow

Book Overview

The engaging story of how an unlikely group of extraordinary people laid the foundation for the legal protection of animalsIn eighteenth-century England--where cockfighting and bullbaiting drew large crowds, and the abuse of animals was routine--the idea of animal protection was dismissed as laughably radical. But as pets became more common, human attitudes toward animals evolved steadily. An unconventional duchess defended their intellect in her writings. A gentleman scientist believed that animals should be treated with compassion. And with the concentrated efforts of an eccentric Scots barrister and a flamboyant Irishman, the lives of beasts--and, correspondingly, men and women--began to change. Kathryn Shevelow, a respected eighteenth-century scholar, gives us the dramatic story of the bold reformers who braved attacks because they sympathized with the plight of creatures everywhere. More than just a history, this is an eye-opening exploration into how our feelings toward animals reveal our ideas about ourselves, God, mercy, and nature. Accessible and lively, "For the Love of Animals" is a captivating cultural narrative that takes us into the lives of animals--and into the minds of humans--during some of history's most fascinating times.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805080902
• ISBN13: 9780805080902
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.2" x 1.1" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

For the love of animals

Book is well-written. Very interesting history about animal protection movement. Anyone who is has a serious interest in animal welfare will want to add it to their collection.

Wonderful

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a fascinating, disturbing, moving look into the history & rise of the animal protection movement in 18th century & early 19th century Britain. The author is expert in saving this tale from what could be a very dry, tedious history--and infuses it with a lively cast of characters & their stories, from an outspoken, philosophizing Duchess, to a French lawyer who represented rats on trial, to a Lord's beloved pet leeches, and a poet's odes to his cat. She also includes poetry, law, social history, paintings and sermons to further give the reader a fully dimensional scope of this movement & the culture it emerged from. Her careful research also keeps it from being overly mushy & preachy---you come away with a nuanced understanding of the shift in people's views & relationships with animals, the horrific condition of animals which spawned some of these shifts in thinking, and how these changes became translated into bills proposed in parliament & eventually, law. That aside, it's just an incredibly moving story. It's a book that makes you think, both philosophically & practically, about animal protection & rights long after you've finished reading, how they relate to the same issues today, and you come out cheering on behalf of stormy Irish politicians & preachers who dared speak & write on behalf of "brute" animals to the ridicule of their peers. It also reveals the smaller, but no less courageous, acts of many and the animals who inspired them.