For the Prevention of Cruelty: The History and Legacy of Animal Rights Activism in the United StatesAnimal rights. Those two words conjure diverse but powerful images and reactions. Some nod in agreement, while others roll their eyes in contempt. Most people fall somewhat uncomfortably in the middle, between endorsement and rejection, as they struggle with the profound moral, philosophical, and legal questions provoked by the debate. Today, thousands of organizations lobby, agitate, and educate the public on issues concerning the rights and treatment of nonhumans. For the Prevention of Cruelty is the first history of organized advocacy on behalf of animals in the United States to appear in nearly a half century. Diane Beers demonstrates how the cause has shaped and reshaped itself as it has evolved within the broader social context of the shift from an industrial to a postindustrial society. Until now, the legacy of the movement in the United States has not been examined. Few Americans today perceive either the companionship or the consumption of animals in the same manner as did earlier generations. Moreover, powerful and lingering bonds connect the seemingly disparate American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of the nineteenth century and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals of today. For the Prevention of Cruelty tells an intriguing and important story that reveals society’s often changing relationship with animals through the lens of those who struggled to shepherd the public toward a greater compassion. |
From inside the book
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... ASPCA. Courtesy Library of Congress, reproduction number LC-USZ62-49241. 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 54321 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Beers, Diane L. For the prevention of cruelty : the history and legacy of animal ...
... ASPCA 42 Figure 3.2. Caroline Earl White, cofounder of the PSPCA and founder of the AAVS 46 Figure 3.3. George Angell, founder of the MSPCA 50 Figure 4.1. Late nineteenth-century horse ambulance 67 Figure 4.2. Early Be Kind to Animals ...
... ASPCA American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals AWI Animal Welfare Institute BBS Bureau of the Biological Survey CDMR Council on Defense of Medical Research CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species ...
... (ASPCA). At the end of the society's first meeting, he proudly declared that the verdict had been rendered: “The blood-red hand of cruelty shall no longer torture dumb beasts with impunity.”2 His prediction was a bit overconfident, but ...
... ASPCA's founding.6 A few decades later, prominent activist Caroline Earle White commented that “now, nearly all agree that the lower animals have certain rights, as inalienable as those of man to life, liberty and the pursuit of ...
Contents
1 | |
19 | |
39 | |
59 | |
5 Reaching Out to the Mainstream | 91 |
6 Our Most Strenuous Protest | 119 |
7 The Road to Liberation | 147 |
Epilogue | 197 |
Notes | 203 |
Bibliography | 267 |
Index | 295 |