Wildlife: general interest Books

Book SynopsisNarrowing the gulf between humans and animalsTrade Review"With much pleasure and interest I read Irvine's book about dogs, cats, and their 'guardians' (the word Irvine uses for people owning companion animals). Bekoff's foreword is very friendly and a good appetizer: it prepares you and makes you curious about the chapters to come. . This sympathetic book is rich in ideas and will generate discussion! This is exactly what it needs to do. It is a first step toward an empirically grounded theory about animal selfhood, and hopefully inspire fellow researchers to develop it further. The book will also most certainly inspire animal lovers, who will gain more understanding about cats and dogs." Anthrozoos "This volume is an important contribution to the recent explosion of sociological analyses of the roles of animals in human life." The American Journal of Sociology "Leslie Irvine's If You Tame Me is a fine book, one that introduces modern ideas about the self and the importance of emotions both for humans and for animals. I hope that many people will read this, look at their companion animals the way Irvine urges us to, and think about the implications. I love it when she gets personal; I only wish there were more passages about her own animals. She is good on anthropomorphism and why spoken language is not the be-all and end-all of intelligence. I learned much from reading this excellent book. I wish it a long life!" --Jeffrey Masson, author of When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals and The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats: A Journey into the Feline Heart "This book is a major effort in developing a conceptual and theoretical framework for looking at issues of animal selves and human-animal intersubjectivity. It is an important work that extends existing sociological research in both social psychology and animal behavior. Rich with ideas and insights, If You Tame Me is must reading for anyone wrestling with the question of how we can know the animal other." --Janet and Steve Alger, authors of Cat Culture: The Social World of a Cat Shelter "Anyone who has experienced connection with an animal will appreciate Leslie Irvine's systematic establishment of the notion of animal selves." --Boulder Daily Camera "I love Leslie's book. It is accessible and at the same time well researched and scholarly, filled with 'hard science' and anecdotes." --Marc Bekoff, from the Foreword " makes a persuasive case for the existence of a sense of self in companion animals and calls upon us to reconsider our rights and obligations regarding the non-human creatures in our lives." Pets QuarterlyTable of ContentsForeword: To Know Them Is to Be Them --Marc Bekoff Acknowledgments Introduction: The Fox's Wisdom 1 How and Why 2 Them and Us 3 From Pets to Companion Animals 4 Looking at Animals/Glimpses of Selves 5 The Adopters: Making a Match 6 Rethinking the Self: Mead's Myopia 7 Self versus Other: The Core Self 8 Self with Other: Intersubjectivity Conclusion: Putting Theory into Practice Appendix: Methods Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisAnimal Subjects: An Ethical Reader in a Posthuman World (WLU Press, 2008) challenged cultural studies to include nonhuman animals within its purview. While the "question of the animal" ricochets across the academy and reverberates within the public sphere, Animal Subjects 2.0 builds on the previous book and takes stock of this explosive turn. It focuses on both critical animal studies and posthumanism, two intertwining conversations that ask us to reconsider common sense understandings of other animals and what it means to be human. This collection demonstrates that many pressing contemporary social problemsâhow and why the oppression and exploitation of our species persistâare entangled with our treatment of other animals and the environment. Decades into the interrogation of our ethical and political responsibilities toward other animals, fissures within the academy deepen as the interest in animal ethics and politics proliferates. Although ideological fault lines have inspired important debates about how to address the very material concerns informing these theoretical discussions, Animal Subjects 2.0 brings together divergent voices to suggest how to foster richer humanâanimal relations, and to cultivate new ways of thinking and being with the rest of animalkind. This collection demonstrates that appreciation of difference, not just similarity, is necessary for a more inclusive and compassionate world. Linking issues of gender, disability, culture, race, and sexuality into species, Animal Subjects 2.0 maps vibrant developments in the emergent fields of critical animal studies and posthumanist thought.Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgements Introduction 1 Might Makes Right: The Origins of Ethics and the Use of Animals for Human Ends / Rod Preece 2 Critical Animals Studies and the Property Debate in Animal Law / Maneesha Deckha 3 âPopular Affectionâ: Edwin Landseer and Nineteenth-Century Animal Advocacy Campaigns / J. Keri Cronin 4 âThe Animal,â Systems, and Structures: An EcofeministâPosthumanist Enquiry / Rhys Mahannah 5 Animal Narrativity: Engaging with Story in a More-Than-Human World / Joshua Russell 6 Canine Cartography: On the Curious and Queer Pleasures of Being a Dog / Peter Hobbs 7 Navigating Difference (Again): Animal Ethics and Entangled Empathy / Lori Gruen 8 All My Relations: Interview with Margaret Robinson / Lauren Corman 9 Rampant Compassion: A Tale of Two Anthropomorphisms and the âTrans-species Epistemeâ of Knowledge-Making / Jodey Castricano 10 The Limits of the âHumanâ: An Alternative Ethics of Dependence on Animals / Kelly Oliver 11 Vegans for Vick: Dogfighting, Intersectional Politics, and the Limits of Mainstream Discourse / Garrett M. Broad 12 Disability, Animals, and Earth Liberation: Eco-ability and Ableism in the Animal Advocacy Movement / Anthony J. Nocella II 13 On Being a Pragmatist: Reflections on Animals, Feminism, and Personal Politics / Lynda Birke 14 Campaigning with the Enemy: Understanding Opportunity Fields and the Tactic of Corporate Incorporation / Carol L. Glasser 15 Nose-to-Tail Eating: A Prematurely Post-Factory-Farm Biopolitics / Jessica Carey 16 The New Carnivores / John Sorenson and Atsuko Matsuoka 17 Rats! Being Social Requires Empathy / Leesa Fawcett 18 The Ventriloquistâs Burden : Animal Advocacy and the Problem of Speaking for Others / Lauren Corman About the Contributors Index

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