Ninety-Five: Meeting America's Farmed Animals in Stories and Photographs [Paperback]

No Voice Unheard (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2010

Ninety-Five is a delightful and engaging anthology of writing and photography by rescuers, caregivers, and those who love the animals. Each animal is portrayed with high quality, full-color photographs and a short story that demonstrate the animal's personality, depth, emotions, quirks, relationships, and individuality. Some stories are quite dramatic and will leave the reader awed and amazed; while others will simply show who an animal is - from Justice, a steer who broke out of a truck on the way to the slaughterhouse, who now is the self-appointed greeter at his sanctuary, to the quiet happiness of Gilly, a small white hen rescued from a factory egg farm, who found peace in a loving home. Galleries of photos of other farmed animals will also engage the reader, and thumbnail photo footnotes provide additional information. *Ninety-Five is the average number of animal lives spared annually by one person's vegan diet.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If the eyes really are the window into the soul, this book surely has you glimpsing the Beloved. The loveliness and resilience of these creatures never ceases to humble me." --Endorsement from Kathy Freston, Author of Quantum Wellness

"Profoundly evocative and entirely to the point, Ninety-Five will leave readers forever changed." --Endorsement from Rory Freedman, #1 NY Times best selling author, Skinny Bitch

How amazing it is to learn from this most extraordinary book just how beautiful chickens, turkeys, pigs, cows and other farm animals can be. This is a rare and life-changing book. It evokes a sense of wonder, joy and awe, and a recognition of how interwoven we are with all of life. --John Robbins, author of The New Good Life and Diet For A New America

One of the most beautiful books I have ever seen, in every respect: the photographs, the loving stories, the philosophy behind the stories, the delightful tales, the sheer exuberance of the animals and their human companions - it is a perfect book! ... Captures something missing from almost all other books about farmed animals. There is so much heart in this book, to rival the heart that the animals themselves display. --Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of When Elephants Weep, The Pig Who Sang to the Moon and The Face on Your Plate

The animal agriculture industry has long treated farm animals like mere commodities, systematically abusing and killing roughly 10 billion each year in the U.S. But after meeting farm animals face to face, and opening themselves up to lessons the animals have to share, many people come to recognize that these beings feel joy, love, fear, pain, and sorrow just like we do. By bringing animal ambassadors forward through stunning portraits and inspiring stories, Ninety-Five offers opportunities for positive change and hope for a more compassionate future. (Gene Baur, President & Co-founder of Farm Sanctuary and Author of the National Best-seller Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food )

From the Inside Flap

Join us as we visit sanctuaries and homes across the country to discover the animals most of us never have a chance to meet - America's farmed animals.

This collection of stories and photographs by rescuers, caregivers and animal lovers will show you a side of these animals you may not have thought possible. Far from the unthinking, unfeeling beings they are often portrayed as, the animals in Ninety-Five* reveal themselves to be as distinctive as the dogs and cats with whom many of us share our homes: complex creatures with remarkable personalities, depth, emotions, quirks, relationships and individuality.

From Justice, the steer who broke out of a truck on the way to the slaughterhouse and who is now the self-appointed "greeter" at his sanctuary, to Gilly, a small white hen rescued from a factory egg farm who found quiet happiness in a loving home, each animal has a compelling story that will captivate. Beautiful photos complement, allowing us the chance to get up close and personal, and to look into their eyes - the "windows of the soul" - and see the extraordinary spark of life they hold.

Some of the animals will make you chuckle, others will move you, some may bring tears to your eyes, and some will just give you something to think about. All of them are fascinating. Come with us on a journey to meet them...

* Ninety-five is the average number of animals spared annually by one person's vegan diet.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Novoice Unheard; 1 edition (May 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972838759
• ISBN-13: 978-0972838757
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 9.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #367,556 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lyrical Look at Farmed Animals, May 24, 2010

By 

Karen Davis, PhD (Machipongo, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ninety-Five: Meeting America's Farmed Animals in Stories and Photographs (Paperback)

Ninety-Five
Meeting America's Farmed Animals in Stories and Photographs

An anthology of photos and stories by No Voice Unheard
Editors: Marilee Geyer, Diane Leigh and Windi Wojdak
[...]

Review by Karen Davis, PhD

Ninety-five is the figure that is often cited as the number of animals who are saved each year by one person's vegan diet. A droplet from the vast sea of creatures subjected to every conceivable cruelty and degradation in order to satisfy the human desire for their eggs, flesh, and nursing mother's milk. For most people these animals are as invisible as microbes in a pond. Yet each animal buried alive in the sewage systems of animal agriculture is an individual with emotions, a personality and a will to live that is as passionate as our own. If only people could meet these animals, surely they will stop eating them.

One way for this to happen is by visiting a farmed animal sanctuary. Another is for America's sanctuary animals to be brought to you through stories and photographs filled with the passion, beauty, love and tears of those who know them best. Ninety-Five provides a lyrical look at a group of individual chickens, turkeys, cows, pigs, rabbits, goats, ducks and other farmed animals - including a live-market crab named Jean - who escaped being dead on a plate. It's an honor for United Poultry Concerns to be one of the sanctuaries chosen for this rich, expressive and compelling book through the magnificent photography of Davida Breier. Through the lens of empathic, talented and insightful writers, sanctuary caregivers, and photographers, Ninety-Five lets the animals be their own best witnesses to the truth of their lives.

I sat down outside with our sanctuary chickens, our turkey Amelia, our two male ducks, and Frankincense the peacock, one Saturday afternoon in April, to read Ninety-Five. The stories and photos seduced me into the lives presented in the book, just as our sanctuary birds seduce me every time I join them in the yard and experience the pull of their personalities and vital energies. Each animal portrait in Ninety-Five needs to be dwelt upon as a whole, making it hard to extract passages to convey something of the book's evocative texture, diversity and sensibility. So while every portrait is a treasure in its own right, for the sake of this review, I draw attention to one of the several powerful stories by Joanna Lucas of Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary in Colorado. In "Libby & Louie - A Love Story," Joanna creates a virtual symphonic tone poem about a rooster named Louie and the hen he loves and who loves him back named Libby. Here is an excerpt from their story:

"In the blush of her first weeks at the sanctuary, when everything astonished her - the open sky, the endless fields, the scent of rain, the feel of straw underfoot - we thought we heard her voice a few times: small, joyful cries coming out of nowhere, seemingly formed out of thin air, the musical friction of invisible particles, not the product of straining, vibrating, trembling vocal cords, but a sound of pure joy coming from the heart of life itself. But, after she paired up with Louie and became his sole partner, Libby turned so completely quiet, that we began to wonder if the voice we had heard in the beginning was truly hers. . . ."

This book is all about these vibrant, singing and silent souls falsely imprined in the dispiriting and despairing notion of "food" animals. I recommend Ninety-Five: Meeting America's Farmed Animals in Stories and Photographs to everyone who cares about animals, everyone who advocates for animals and wants to get to know them better and speak more eloquently on their behalf. "From Justice the steer who broke out of a truck on the way to the slaughterhouse and who is now the self-appointed `greeter' at his sanctuary, to Gilly, a small white hen rescued from a factory egg farm who found quiet happiness in a loving home, each animal has a compelling story that will captivate." This I can promise you'll discover for yourself in reading this wonderful book. And please share it with your friends and family and donate a copy to your local library.

Karen Davis, PhD, President
United Poultry Concerns
[...]

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reaches right to your soul, May 8, 2010

By 

the merry vegan (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ninety-Five: Meeting America's Farmed Animals in Stories and Photographs (Paperback)

I received my copy and have been mesmerized by these beautiful souls and their heart-tugging stories. I am deeply touched. Their stories have not failed to make me cry, laugh, smile and break my heart, but, mostly it has fueled further my desire to help these souls at every turn I can. The photographs of the animals are stunning. This book is not meant to sit on a bookshelf when you are finished reading it. This is a book that needs, that must be shared. Purchase extras for gifts. I did.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Persuades without preaching, August 3, 2010

By 

Rebecca B. Clark - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ninety-Five: Meeting America's Farmed Animals in Stories and Photographs (Paperback)

This delightful book offers a window into the magical world of farm animal rescue. Vivid photographs and charming stories give voice to a number of lucky pigs, chickens, turkeys, goats, and cows that have been rescued from the agricultural food chain. I was utterly charmed by images of still-sassy debeaked chickens like Francine and Goldie; blissful smiles on the faces of pigs like Rosie and Ronnie ("they didn't turn us into bacon!"); and the baleful eyes of dozens of rescued goats and cows lucky enough to live out their lives (often made painful and short by feeding and breeding techniques)in grassy fields and sunny barnyards.

The authors and photographers who created this gem of a book seemed to know that they didn't need to lecture or preach. Because nothing could be more persuasive than the faces of these fortunate animals.