For the Love of Animals: The Rise of the Animal Protection Movement [Hardcover]

Kathryn Shevelow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 24, 2008

The engaging story of how an unlikely group of extraordinary people laid the foundation for the legal protection of animals

In 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.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–The history of the animal protection movement is not for the squeamish. Ironically, those who care most about animals must confront difficult-to-read passages filled with vivid accounts of atrocities and torture. Rare are the uplifting stories of rescues and the cessation of blood sports. Shevelow records the great strides society has made in the treatment of animals, but also notes how little some things have changed. Despite the books sometimes dark tone, she tries to remain optimistic, and she highlights some important heroes. This title is especially relevant as readers witness a modern culture of cruelty exemplified by Michael Vicks dog-fighting hobby and inhumane puppy farms. The subject also dovetails nicely with other best-selling books about food and animals such as Michael Pollans The Omnivores Dilemma (Penguin, 2007) and Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnsons Animals in Translation (Harcourt, 2006). Change in attitudes toward animals has come painfully slowly and the fight for further protection is far from finished. With this book, teens may be galvanized for a new cause.–Joy Murphy, Oakland Public Library, CA
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From Booklist

A specialist in eighteenth-century British literature and culture, Shevelow is uniquely primed to write the early history of the animal-protection movement as England was the home of the world’s first national animal-protection law. The events leading up to the passage of that law, the Ill-Treatment of Cattle Act of 1822, make for absorbing reading. England in the eighteenth century was a famously cruel place, a land of extreme class distinctions, abject poverty, and horrendous treatment of animals—and yet this miasma produced the abolition of slavery, the improvement of prisons, and the crusade against cruelty to animals. Shevelow follows various players in the struggle, including moral caricaturist William Hogarth, abolitionist Bishop Wilberforce, flamboyant Irish MP Richard Martin, and eccentric Scots barrister Thomas Erskine as the tide of public opinion is turned against bull baiting, cock fighting, and the everyday abuse of draft horses. Culminating in the founding of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, this mesmerizing history is full of colorful characters and anecdotes about eighteenth-century society. --Nancy Bent

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; First Edition edition (June 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805080902
• ISBN-13: 978-0805080902
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,379,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kathryn Shevelow grew up in southwestern Ohio. Her parents were public school teachers, and she has three younger sisters. As an adult, she moved to the west coast for graduate school, and got her PhD at the University of California, San Diego, where she is now a faculty member in the Literature Department. Her first book, "Women and Print Culture," was about the invention of magazines for women in 18th-century England. More recently, she wrote "Charlotte," a biography of the scandalous 18th-century cross-dressing actress, Charlotte Charke, which was the winner of the Theatre Library Association's George Freedley Memorial Award for the year's best book on live theater. Her newest book, "For the Love of Animals," combines her life-long concern for animal welfare with her knowledge of 18th and 19th century England to tell the story of how society's changing attitudes towards animals enabled a collection of extraordinary people, working over many years, to pass the world's first animal welfare law and to found the SPCA, the world's first animal protection society.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, September 9, 2008

By 

seishonagon (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: For the Love of Animals: The Rise of the Animal Protection Movement (Hardcover)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the love of animals, May 11, 2010

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K. KASSOVER (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: For the Love of Animals: The Rise of the Animal Protection Movement (Paperback)

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.

3 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars animals, December 22, 2008

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Diane C., Goelz "critical" (Paso Robles, Calif.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: For the Love of Animals: The Rise of the Animal Protection Movement (Hardcover)

I was just too empathetic to finish. If you have the fortitude you will enjoy it.