Scan barcode
A review by sittingwishingreading
Our Kindred Creatures: How Americans Came to Feel the Way They Do About Animals by Monica Murphy, Bill Wasik
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
2.75
Thanks @aaknopf for this #gifted #FinishedCopy of Our Kindred Creatures by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy.
My best descriptor of this book is White Christian Gilded Age animal rights activism history book. It’s dense, I learned why the Boston MSPCA animal hospital is named Angell, and it paints a vivid picture of how animals were present in 19th century life.
This book reads in two parts: The historical documentation of animal rights work in the 19th century, and then the conclusion. The conclusion is far more interesting and intellectually engaging than the historical documentation parts of the book. The authors only elucidate their why of writing this book (the humanitarian, current day philosophical, existential, and activist points) in the conclusion, which I think is a strange and disjointed choice. I think the authors were trying to use the history to provide evidence and persuasion for the points they made in the conclusion, but effort got lost in the dry, objective reporting of facts that was the main body of the text.
If you’re into the Christian origins of the animal rights movement in the northeastern and mid Atlantic US in the 1800’s, this is the book for you. It likely is a niche book with a niche audience.
My best descriptor of this book is White Christian Gilded Age animal rights activism history book. It’s dense, I learned why the Boston MSPCA animal hospital is named Angell, and it paints a vivid picture of how animals were present in 19th century life.
This book reads in two parts: The historical documentation of animal rights work in the 19th century, and then the conclusion. The conclusion is far more interesting and intellectually engaging than the historical documentation parts of the book. The authors only elucidate their why of writing this book (the humanitarian, current day philosophical, existential, and activist points) in the conclusion, which I think is a strange and disjointed choice. I think the authors were trying to use the history to provide evidence and persuasion for the points they made in the conclusion, but effort got lost in the dry, objective reporting of facts that was the main body of the text.
If you’re into the Christian origins of the animal rights movement in the northeastern and mid Atlantic US in the 1800’s, this is the book for you. It likely is a niche book with a niche audience.