Customer Reviews

Radical Vegetarianism: A Dialectic of Diet and Ethic (Flashpoint)

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After you've read John Robbins' "Diet for a New America", and digested it (pun intended) for a few months/years, it's time to read "Radical Vegetarianism". Mr. Braunstein will take your thinking and mentality about food, nutrition, and health to the next level. Sometimes caustic, often funny, and always intelligent and thought-provoking, this book is a great read and very inspiring.

I treasure this book. I don't agree with Braunstein on every point...like, I think my vegan diet--going on 9 years, now--probably isn't as healthy as Braunstein would like it to be. But still, I am so very glad I've read it & can refer back to it.

Who before Braunstein expressed the idea that in every glass of milk floats a metaphorical hunk of veal? Braunstein may have been the first. If I'd gotten my hands on this book sooner, maybe I would have realized sooner the inconsistency in my shunning meat while still consuming dairy.

Reading Rad Veg, I was continually amazed by the wordplay. Perfect confections, clever revelations. And here's a sample of his humor: "[Reader advisory: Reading about cancer could cause worry about cancer, and worrying about cancer could cause cancer; so if this advisory worries you, skip this next paragraph.]"

I learned some new words...like ataraxia: "'the undisturbed peace of mind before the turmoil of this world,' wrote Luigi Cornaro a half millenium ago, quoting a passage Zeno had written a millienium before..." explains Braunstein. That comes right after an excerpt from Kafka, in the same chapter as references to Shaw, Pasolini, and Tolstoy. To call Braunstein bookish and brainy, his writing erudite, would be understatements.

The Posthumous Postscript tells of his remarkable discovery of Edgar Kupfer's essay, "Animals, My Brethren," key parts of which are published in Rad Veg. A gem, indeed.

I don't really know how to put into words the writing style of the author. At once, it's playful, crazy, amusing, full of puns, silly, urgent...and I couldn't put the book down.

There are countless reasons to embrace a vegan lifestyle, and I'm endlessly interested in the journey that others travel to get there. This book is part manifesto and yet highly personal and thoughtful. Radical Vegetarianism deserved the re-print, and I hope people stumble upon it just like I did--not to mention, enjoy it as immensely.

For those for whom vegetarianism is a quest not easily achieved, this book offers great hope and new insight. Literary, humorous and easy to read, it is also surprisingly spiritual. The human condition and the suffering we endure is blamed upon the way in which we have treated our fellow creatures, as well as the stress and torture prior to their sacrifice. It does not address the plight of those who cannot afford non animal foods in our present corporate food distribution system but it does provide much food for thought on what should go into our bodies if we are to become the people we think we want to be.