Pets in America: A History [Hardcover]

Katherine C. Grier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2006

Entertaining and informative, Pets in America is a portrait of Americans' relationships with the cats, dogs, birds, fishes, rodents, and other animals we call our own. More than 60 percent of U.S. households have pets, and America grows more pet-friendly every day. But as Katherine Grier demonstrates, the ways we talk about and treat our pets--as companions, as children, and as objects of beauty, status, or pleasure--have their origins long ago.

Grier begins with a natural history of animals as pets, then discusses the changing role of pets in family life, new standards of animal welfare, the problems presented by borderline cases such as livestock pets, and the marketing of both animals and pet products. She focuses particularly on the period between 1840 and 1940, when the emotional, behavioral, and commercial characteristics of contemporary pet keeping were established. The story is peppered with the warmth and humor of anecdotes from period diaries, letters, catalogs, and newspapers.

Filled with illustrations reflecting the whimsy, the devotion, and the commerce that have shaped centuries of American pet keeping, Pets in America ultimately shows how the history of pets has evolved alongside changing ideas about human nature, child development, and community life.

This book accompanies a museum exhibit, "Pets in America," which opens at the McKissick Museum in Columbia, South Carolina, in December 2005 and will travel to five other cities from May 2006 through May 2008.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In an encyclopedic history, Grier describes the changing cultural sensibilities that have defined the experience of American pet owners from colonial times to the present. Grier, an expert on material culture at the Winterthur Museum (one of several museums that will display a traveling exhibition of the same title), draws on diaries, magazines, advice books, illustrations and photographs for this serious book reflecting the author's interest in the symbolic and metaphorical role pets play in our culture. Grier's definition of "pet" is broad and includes domestic animals like urban horses as well as chickens and pigs, which were routinely raised by children on farms as quasi-pets. Although she is primarily interested in human-animal relationships, Grier doesn't neglect the developing commercial multibillion-dollar pet industry (Ralston Purina, Grier relates, began as a livestock feed company, adding dog food only in 1926). Scholarly, thorough, informative and animal friendly as the book is, Grier would have made many readers even happier had she occasionally eschewed seriousness in favor of the rich satirical grounds the excesses of pet-ownership provide. B&w photos. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"A welcome addition to the field."
-- American Historical Review

"Scholars of the history of human-animal relations have eagerly anticipated this book, and the result exceeds expectations."
— Journal of American History

"A good social and cultural history of pet keeping in America . . . [A history] that will last us a while."
— Winterthur Portfolio

"Few scholars know more about the complex interactions between people and the animals that share their lives than Kasey Grier."
— The Hunt

"Pets in America is a labor of love and a delight to read."
James A. Serpell, University of Pennsylvania

"Witty, richly illustrated, and entertaining."
Joy Kasson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

"Grier has produced a wonderful book, full of careful scholarship and charming anecdotes."
Andrew N. Rowan, Executive Vice President, Humane Society of the United States

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 392 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (February 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807829900
• ISBN-13: 978-0807829905
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,237,478 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Our "favorites", May 15, 2006

By 

Jon Hunt "musician, teacher" (Old Greenwich, Ct. USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Pets in America: A History (Hardcover)

"Pets in America", an astonishingly comprehensive new book by Katherine C. Grier, relates the history of pets as we have known them from the earliest days of our nation. In doing so, she has given us a compelling look at the evolution of how different animals became popular pets, how we treat pets as a society and what their needs are compared to ours.

Grier begins by asking "what is a pet?" and then follows up with remarks about "why pets matter". She sets the stage for the reader to begin to view the animals we call "pets" (and what Americans in the nineteenth century called "favorites") in a different way than just furry little creatures that greet us upon our return home. One of the many surprises I found in reading "Pets in America" was that one hundred to one hundred fifty years ago the most popular pet to have was a caged bird. She explains part of the reason by saying that there was far less noise around then and songbirds added a cheerful level of volume that was most welcome in many homes.

While Grier's book understandably covers dogs, cats, birds and fish as the most common pets to find around the house, there is also a good deal of writing about livestock animals.....horses, swine, barnyard fowl and rabbits. There are many quotes from diarists of the 1800s and the most alluring ones come from children. Being much closer to "pets as dinner" she quotes a few girls who couldn't stand the thought of losing a newborn calf or lamb, knowing that it would end up on someone's dinner table....possibly their own. There's also a charming section on "the Bunnie States of America"....a club set up in 1898 by the children of an Albany, New York couple who had rules and regulations for their club, held meetings and wrote of the happenings of their beloved rabbits.

Grier takes an awful lot of time in the middle of the book describing the liberal goodness of the upper middle class and their views toward treating animals with kindness and respect. Although she presents her case effectively, it is the one place where "Pets in America" bogs down a little but she picks right up again with a chapter titled, "Pet keeping and its dilemmas". As animals moved closer to humans with their increased indoor contact, boundaries necessitated change. Understandably, at the same time, livestock became more foreign to many Americans with the advent of the automobile, as horses were decreasingly necessary for transportation. However, Grier describes in great detail what city life was like prior to that with pigs running through the streets, chickens cackling in many a backyard and the undeniable stench of horse manure. The seemy side of pet life....those who dealt in the selling, trading and butchering of pets is a terrific addition to the work. It's hard to believe, sometimes, that we are just a few generations removed from all of that.

The author finishes up with a look at the twentieth century arrival (on a large scale) of pet stores, pet food and other accoutrements such as "clothing" and bedding. There is not much about veterinary medicine in this book other to say that in earlier times, a pet's best caregiver (and often its only doctor) was its owner.

Many wonderful, early photographs and drawings accompany "Pets in America". It's a welcome addition to a fantastic book. I highly recommend "Pets in America" for its depth and incisiveness and I applaud Katherine Grier for combining a straightforward analysis with an outstanding narrative.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For all who have a four-legged best friend, October 30, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pets in America: A History (Hardcover)

It's true that Americans love their pets. Ask anyone at school or work and your will usually get quite a story about the family pet. Katherine Grier's Pets in America: A History is a wonderful attempt to trace the history of pets in America. It is ironic to see how the social development of Americans so closely parallels the sociological importance of our pets.

This book is absolutely recommended for you or the pet lover in your life. It is filled with little pithy facts about pet ownership down through the ages. For instance, I was pleasantly surprised to read of George Washington's hounds and the level to which his personal correspondence referenced them.

Pet ownership has existed in some form since the 1500s and continues to grow in popularity. I found it intriguing how much of pet inclusion is tied directly to our sociological evolution. For instance, our incorporation of pets into photographs directly corresponds to American's desire to share memories with their posterity. The modern purveyor of the digital camera doesn't even give Fluffy a second thought to being included in a photo spread.

Grier also shares the realities for capitalism which increasing pet ownership brought to America. In some of these sections the minutiae will creep to the surface. You would be ill advised to sit down and read it in a few sittings. I did this and found myself absorbed in the details.

Instead, read this book in small chunks. It is filled with incredible information about pet ownership - and every pet lover will find it a must have for their library. George Bernard Shaw said it best: "Animals are my friends, and I don't eat my friends." I wouldn't recommend you eat your pets - but I do recommend you read this book.

Armchair Interviews says: This is a yummy book!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Useful Text For The College Classroom And Beyond, February 5, 2008

By 

R. M. Stilwell - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pets in America: A History (Paperback)

Katherine C. Grier has written a book that is both entertaining and informative. Although I don't think it was intended to be a textbook, it will be a very useful book to use in the college classroom...students will not fail to be engaged by it, which will result in good discussions and thus more learning about the way our society views companion creatures. Dr. Grier blends history and visual images in a way that supports and extends the reader's general comprehension and enjoyment of the many interesting facts in it. Beyond it's usefulness in my classes, though, I have to say that this book is probably one of the best reference works for the history of pets in America that has been written to date. It's also fun to look at the pictures. It is the work of a rare type of scholar: she "reaches the student before she teaches the student." I'm going to make this a required book in my classes next Fall. Thanks, Dr. Grier, for a job well done!Pets in America: A History