Monkey Business: The Disturbing Case That Launched the Animal Rights Movement (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) [Hardcover]

Kathy Snow Guillermo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1993 | ISBN-10: 1882605047 | ISBN-13: 978-1882605040

Documenting the case that provided the impetus for forming PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), a fast-paced chronicle of the organization shows how the group has changed the way Americans think about animals.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Guillermo, lifestyles director for People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, tells how PETA cofounder Alan Pacheco shocked the nation into awareness of animal abuse in the realm of science. In 1981, seeking firsthand knowledge of live-animal experiments, Pacheco applied for a summer job at the Institute of Behavioral Research in Silver Springs, Md., where work funded by the National Institute of Health was being carried out. Accepted as a volunteer, he found 17 monkeys in small wire cages in the unventilated, filthy lab where he was assigned. Twelve animals were disabled by severed nerves; five were control subjects. Pacheco went to the lab at night and took photos. He brought in scientists and veterinarians to see the monkeys; then he called the state police. The case of the Silver Springs monkeys resulted in the first reduction of federal funding for government-supported research because of animal abuse; it was the first laboratory animal case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. Photos. $75,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is considered the foremost animal rights proponent in the U.S., a reputation first won in the early 1980s when cofounders Alex Pacheco and Ingrid Newkirk initiated an elaborately researched and documented legal challenge to the Institute of Behavioral Research, charging it with animal neglect and abuse. Monkey Business, written by the lifestyles director of PETA, is the unquestionably biased but compelling tale of the people and events that brought about this landmark case, projected it into the media, and, in doing so, filled a newly discovered void in the American conscience. Although this book is bound to anger, disgust, and move the reader, its effectiveness occasionally suffers from its overly emotional appeal. Recommended for all animal rights and ethics collections. Angus Trimnell

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 254 pages
• Publisher: Natl Pr Books (September 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882605047
• ISBN-13: 978-1882605040
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,333,918 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought Inspiring, November 20, 2002

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Monkey Business: The Disturbing Case That Launched the Animal Rights Movement (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) (Hardcover)

I read this book while in juvenile detention waiting to be placed in a foster home. It was given to me by a vegan employee. I wasn't going anywhere so I though "why not?" I was vegetarian at the time (for health reasons only), but knew and cared nothing about animal rights. Reading this book compelled me to be otherwise. Additionally, for those of you who think that PETA is just a bunch of hippie wackos - read this. This book is also about the founding of PETA and you will soon find out they are nothing more than people who love animals.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for All Animal Lovers, November 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Monkey Business: The Disturbing Case That Launched the Animal Rights Movement (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) (Hardcover)

No matter where you stand on the issue of animal rights, this book will give you a better understanding of the animal rights movement, and the case which launched the founding of PETA. It is very well written, describing in great detail the story of the Silver Spring monkey abuse case, in which an NIH-funded researcher, Edward Taub, was convicted of animal abuse for neglecting and abusing his research subjects. It is essential reading for animal lovers and anyone who is interested in animal rights and/or animal welfare. I found it easy to read, educational, and yet, disturbing.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fair Journalism, February 6, 2005

By 

Rick Bogle (Madison, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monkey Business: The Disturbing Case That Launched the Animal Rights Movement (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) (Hardcover)

Monkey Business blows Debra Blum's Monkey Wars out of the water. Where Blum tries to appear unbiased by giving equal space to activists and vivisectors, Guillermo demonstrates that NIH and its vivisectors are scum by recounting the details of their repeated lies to Congress and their sordid back-room plots to keep a few tortured monkeys from ever seeing the sky or smelling fresh air.

No one who reads her account can have any doubt that the NIH should be gutted and massively reformed, or sadly, that Congress is incapable of doing so.

If you want to hold on to some illusion that our government will ever act openly, with honesty, or cares one whit about curing human disease or the humane treatment of animals, don't read this book.