- Paperback: 464 pages
- Publisher: St Martin's Press; 1st St. Martin's Griffin Ed edition (28 Nov 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312319738
- ISBN-13: 978-0312319731
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 14.1 x 2.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,240,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Dominion
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Product Description
Review
"Scully's riveting account... shows how unspeakable and systematic animal cruelty is the currency of a soulless industry that has shattered American rural communities, poisoned our soils, air, and water, made family farmers an endangered species, and undermined our democracy. Scully's book gently questions whether we can foster human dignity in a society that treats other sentient beings as production units." --- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
"Matthew Scully has set forth a case - in a wry and riveting manner - that will resonate with any reader who values logical reasoning and ethical conduct. I expect that "Dominion "will be the most influential book on animal protection in the last twenty-five years." -- Wayne Pacelle, Senior Vice President, The Humane Society of the United States
"Matthew Scully has set forth a case - in a wry and riveting manner - that will resonate with any reader who values logical reasoning and ethical conduct. I expect that "Dominion "will be the most influential book on animal protection in the last twenty-five years." -- Wayne Pacelle, Senior Vice President, The Humane Society of the United States
Product Description
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."--Genesis 1:24-26
In this crucial passage from the Old Testament, God grants mankind power over animals. But with this privilege comes the grave responsibility to respect life, to treat animals with simple dignity and compassion.
Somewhere along the way, something has gone wrong.
In "Dominion," we witness the annual convention of Safari Club International, an organization whose wealthier members will pay up to $20,000 to hunt an elephant, a lion or another animal, either abroad or in American "safari ranches," where the animals are fenced in pens. We attend the annual International Whaling Commission conference, where the skewed politics of the whaling industry come to light, and the focus is on developing more lethal, but not more merciful, methods of harvesting "living marine resources." And we visit a gargantuan American "factory farm," where animals are treated as mere product and raised in conditions of mass confinement, bred for passivity and bulk, inseminated and fed with machines, kept in tightly confined stalls for the entirety of their lives, and slaughtered in a way that maximizes profits and minimizes decency.
Throughout "Dominion," Scully counters the hypocritical arguments that attempt to excuse animal abuse: from those who argue that the Bible's message permits mankind to use animals as it pleases, to the hunter's argument that through hunting animal populations are controlled, to the popular and "scientifically proven" notions that animals cannot feel pain, experience no emotions, and are not conscious of their own lives.
The result is eye opening, painful and infuriating, insightful and rewarding. "Dominion" is a plea for human benevolence and mercy, a scathing attack on those who would dismiss animal activists as mere sentimentalists, and a demand for reform from the government down to the individual. Matthew Scully has created a groundbreaking work, a book of lasting power and importance for all of us.
In this crucial passage from the Old Testament, God grants mankind power over animals. But with this privilege comes the grave responsibility to respect life, to treat animals with simple dignity and compassion.
Somewhere along the way, something has gone wrong.
In "Dominion," we witness the annual convention of Safari Club International, an organization whose wealthier members will pay up to $20,000 to hunt an elephant, a lion or another animal, either abroad or in American "safari ranches," where the animals are fenced in pens. We attend the annual International Whaling Commission conference, where the skewed politics of the whaling industry come to light, and the focus is on developing more lethal, but not more merciful, methods of harvesting "living marine resources." And we visit a gargantuan American "factory farm," where animals are treated as mere product and raised in conditions of mass confinement, bred for passivity and bulk, inseminated and fed with machines, kept in tightly confined stalls for the entirety of their lives, and slaughtered in a way that maximizes profits and minimizes decency.
Throughout "Dominion," Scully counters the hypocritical arguments that attempt to excuse animal abuse: from those who argue that the Bible's message permits mankind to use animals as it pleases, to the hunter's argument that through hunting animal populations are controlled, to the popular and "scientifically proven" notions that animals cannot feel pain, experience no emotions, and are not conscious of their own lives.
The result is eye opening, painful and infuriating, insightful and rewarding. "Dominion" is a plea for human benevolence and mercy, a scathing attack on those who would dismiss animal activists as mere sentimentalists, and a demand for reform from the government down to the individual. Matthew Scully has created a groundbreaking work, a book of lasting power and importance for all of us.
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First Sentence
Whether of natural or supernatural origin, the moment that humanity acquired reason and language we were set apart forever from the natural world, and nothing was ever the same. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Whether of natural or supernatural origin, the moment that humanity acquired reason and language we were set apart forever from the natural world, and nothing was ever the same. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Superbly written, Matthew Scully tackles the issue of animal cruelty and exploitation in all spheres, hunting, the fur trade, killing animals to eat, cruel sports etc without beating about the bush. It is a refreshing book coming from a Christian in particular. In my view christians on the whole have their ostrich heads in the sand. It is sad that evangelicals often associate a concern for the welfare of animals with extremism than with the Bible!
I quote one paragraph: "In this chapter I just want to examine the thinking of many skeptics, especially my fellow conservatives and the lengths to which they often go to avoid animal welfare as a serious moral issue. Typically this involves three points of attack: A glorification of economic imperatives; a summary dismissal of the matter as sentimental, morally trivial and probably subversive; and a little Scripture thrown in for our moral uplift." A must read.
I quote one paragraph: "In this chapter I just want to examine the thinking of many skeptics, especially my fellow conservatives and the lengths to which they often go to avoid animal welfare as a serious moral issue. Typically this involves three points of attack: A glorification of economic imperatives; a summary dismissal of the matter as sentimental, morally trivial and probably subversive; and a little Scripture thrown in for our moral uplift." A must read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am hugely grateful for this book. It offers a clear, and to my mind compelling, case in favour of treating animals with care and dignity. Scully, a former speechwriter for George W Bush, writes clearly, winsomely, and without pretension. Dominion is a long book, but it deserves to be: Scully uses research, interviews, moral philosophy and theology to argue for his position. If you are unconvinced by the case for animal rights - or at least for a greater concern for animal welfare - I would challenge you to read this book.
Most importantly, Scully structures his argument without taking the route adopted by Peter Singer and other animal rights advocates who bring people down to the same level as animals (arguing as they do against "speciesism"). Instead, Scully takes a more positive view of humanity, and argues that we should value animals more positively than we do. By lifting up animals rather than pushing down people, he offers a much more appealing vision of the way the world is. This not only strikes me as being true - it is also more likely to succeed in getting people to listen.
I would say there is one weakness of the book, but it is only relevant to some of its target audience. Scully's slightly unconvincing use of Biblical material will lead some Christians to raise questions about his approach to the Bible and how to interpret it. But Christians worried by this will probably also be able to explain how Scully could have better constructed his argument in line with Biblical material: his own (admitted) lack of theological nous does not serve to fatally undermine his argument.
This book deserves five stars. Animal welfare needs more advocates on the conservative side of the fence, and Scully is a worthy standard bearer for the cause.
Most importantly, Scully structures his argument without taking the route adopted by Peter Singer and other animal rights advocates who bring people down to the same level as animals (arguing as they do against "speciesism"). Instead, Scully takes a more positive view of humanity, and argues that we should value animals more positively than we do. By lifting up animals rather than pushing down people, he offers a much more appealing vision of the way the world is. This not only strikes me as being true - it is also more likely to succeed in getting people to listen.
I would say there is one weakness of the book, but it is only relevant to some of its target audience. Scully's slightly unconvincing use of Biblical material will lead some Christians to raise questions about his approach to the Bible and how to interpret it. But Christians worried by this will probably also be able to explain how Scully could have better constructed his argument in line with Biblical material: his own (admitted) lack of theological nous does not serve to fatally undermine his argument.
This book deserves five stars. Animal welfare needs more advocates on the conservative side of the fence, and Scully is a worthy standard bearer for the cause.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Tremendously painful, agonizing in the intellectual and emotional realm; Matthew Scully crafts a book that despite its quoting of scriptures and his own stance as conservative Republican, somehow becomes even more lucid, heavy and motivated. His mastery of English is like a dream; sadly, the book's matter is of utmost reality: a vicious, heart-rending toll which glimpses the neverending nightmare at our most unfeeling abyss.
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