For the Prevention of Cruelty
by Diane L. Beers
Summary
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 L. 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.
Excerpt
During an unusual warm spell early last year, I shed some of the many layers of clothes required to survive a New England winter and ventured out for a stroll in a nearby town. I eventually migrated to the local bookshop in search of something to read during the inevitable return and last stand of the winter season. As row after row of magazines tempted me with discourses on everything from rock “grrls” to literary criticism, a rather striking cover drew my eye toward the nature section. A chimpanzee with hand tucked under chin stared back at me as though contemplating some weighty issue of the world. The bold, multicolored headline next to the philosophical primate asked “Should Animals Have Legal Rights?” Since I had spent many of my self-absorbed graduate school years researching the historical issues and people surrounding this very question, I quickly flipped to the relevant pages behind the provocative cover.
The author satisfied the casual reader within me but disappointed the social historian. The author adeptly maneuvered through many of the current and hotly contested issues related to animal rights, including animal intelligence, the ability of various species to feel pain, the prevalent use of animals in medical experiments, and dissection in schools, among others. Furthermore, he persuasively argued that there had been a recent, discernible shift in public attitudes toward a greater concern for the rights of animals, citing public opinion polls, numerous legislative initiatives (mostly at the state level), and legal victories since 1990 to reform, regulate, or ban everything from steel traps to factory farms, cock- and dogfighting, greyhound racing, and puppy mills. All of this was fascinating. What disappointed me was the painfully brief foray into past debates over the ethical consideration for nonhumans (or lack thereof, according to the author) and what amounted to a cursory, one-sentence nod to the contributions of the post-Civil War antivivisection movement. Furthering my dismay, the article focused primarily on what the author characterized as a “new movement” to “afford some genuine legal rights for animals.”
But neither the movement for “genuine” legal recognition of nonhumans nor any one of the current issues detailed in that article is a new phenomenon.
Reviews
“Destined to become a classic in its field”—Publishers Weekly
“A fortifying experience”—BookForum
“A remarkably thorough treatise”—Daily Hampshire Gazette
Author's Biography
Diane L. Beers is a professor of history at Holyoke [Massachusetts] Community College, where she teaches social, environmental, and African American history.