Title Details

Peter Singer is Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University. He is the author of Animal Liberation, first published in 1975, and is widely credited with triggering the modern animal rights movement. His Practical Ethics is one of the most widely used texts in applied ethics, and Rethinking Life and Death received the 1995 National Book Council's Banjo Award for non-fiction. He is also editor of four other titles for Blackwell: A Companion to Ethics (1991), A Companion to Bioethics (with Helga Kuhse, 1999), The Moral of the Story: An Anthology of Ethics Through Literature (with Renata Singer, 2005), and Bioethics: An Anthology (with Helga Kuhse, 2nd edn., 2006).

Preface Peter Singer.

Part I: The Ideas.

1. Utilitarianism and Animals: Gaverick Matheny.

2. The Scientific Basis for Assessing Suffering in Animals: Marian Stamp Dawkins.

3. The Animal Debate: A Re-Examination: Paola Cavalieri.

4. On the Question of Personhood Beyond Homo sapiens: David DeGrazia.

5. Religion and Animals: Paul Waldau.

Part II: The Problems.

6. Speciesism in the Laboratory: Richard Ryder.

7. Brave New Farm?: Jim Mason and Mary Finelli.

8. Outlawed in Europe: Clare Druce and Philip Lymbery.

9. Against Zoos: Dale Jamieson.

10. To Eat the Laughing Animal: Dale Peterson.

Part III: Activists and Their Strategies.

11. How Austria Achieved a Historic Breakthrough for Animals: Martin Balluch.

12. Butcher Knives into Pruning Hooks: Doing Civil Disobedience for Animals: Pelle Strindlund.

13. Opening Cages, Opening Eyes: An Investigation and Open Rescue at an Egg Factory Farm: Miyun Park.

14. Living and Working in Defense of Animals: Matt Ball.

15. Effective Advocacy: Stealing From the Corporate Playbook: Bruce Friedrich.

16. Moving the Media: From Foe, or Indifferent Stranger, to Friend: Karen Dawn.

17. The CEO as Animal Activist: John Mackey and Whole Foods: John Mackey, Karen Dawn and Lauren Ornelas.

18. Ten Points for Activists: Henry Spira and Peter Singer.

A Final Word: Peter Singer.

Further Reading, Useful Organizations.

Index

“Paul McCartney once said that if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian. This book continues Peter Singer's important, urgent project of turning these walls, one by one, to glass. The essays alert us to the holocaust that continues in farms and laboratories; a holocaust that most people ignore - not because they are bad people, but, perhaps, because the horror of what we do to animals is too big to contemplate. … The wonderful essays in this book remind us that any form of humanism must respect all sentient beings, and that a culture that can create workers who can bear listening to the screams of the "animals" they kill … and that can also create people who are prepared to look the other way and enjoy the spoils of the whole endeavour - is a culture that is not only cruel and deluded, but well primed for the next human holocaust.” The Independent on Sunday

"Peter Singer’s writing changed my life. I have waited for this book for a long time, a quarter of a century in fact. What an exquisite collection of fine writers with compelling philosophies, philosophies that translate into positive ways to change society and one’s own daily life for the better.” Ingrid Newkirk, President, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

“A survey of the new wave of philosophy, science, and action in the cause of animals. The theoretical essays give a masterly overview of the field, while the essays on animal-rights activism are engaging and full of good sense.” J. M. Coetzee, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, 2003

“Take your fork out of that animal on your plate, and sit down in a comfortable chair and read this book instead. Essential reading for anyone who cares deeply about the lives of animals.” Jeffrey Masson, author of The Pig Who Sang to the Moon

"I welcome the era when overwhelming, unconscionable cruelty is not longer the outstanding feature of people's interactions with animals. The books under review facilitate that era's arrival." Peter S. Wenz, Social Theory and Practice