Customer Reviews

The Vegetable Passion: A History of the Vegetarian State of Mind

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an odd & unique little book, written, i believe, by someone who hasnt put out anything else. it is primarily a collection of biographies of various vegetarians, from gandhi to hitler & an explication of several vegetarian movements. written in the early-mid 70s, the style of the vegetable passion is evocative of its time..... while it does meander, more information is packed into less space & there isnt an imposed message or point of view. it is more scholarly than most books i have seen on the topic. the information is unusual, as are the photographs. if one would like a history of some of the worlds more famous vegetarians & specifically, their views on vegetarianism & how it is integrated into their lives, this would be a good book to read.

If you are a vegan or vegetarian you need to read this book! it was written in the 70's... I got mine used that the Bohdi Tree used bookstore in Los Angeles... this book covers vegetarian ideas, poems, religions and societies ranging from prehistoric times to the 20th century. If you think animal rights, veganism and vegetarianism are new ideas you will be pleasantly surprised that people of the past already came to the same conclusions you did. They saw the unnecessary violence and pain, they connected humans to non-human animals, they were concerned about health, as well as nature and the environment.... no matter what period in history, there were people who saw outside "the matrix" of animal exploitation.
Furthermore this book is A FUN read. She's has an awesome conversational style. i had trouble putting it down as page after page reading about cool people who saw it my way throughout history. This book is not given enough credit and I really hope it goes back into print!!! the movement needs this book!

It couldn't decide whether it was vegetarian propaganda or a sociological history of the movement and, accordingly, both sides fail. I was looking for a decent history of the movement, and this wasn't it.