by Colin Spencer
|
by Colin Spencer
|
by Jared Diamond
|
by Henry David Thoreau
|
by Ursula Le Guin
|
Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free One-Day Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.
|
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
Review
An epic of non-carnivorous restraint.Stuart, a young British scholar, offers portraits of often little-known figures who would not eat anything with a mother or a face, and he blends these character studies with smart analyses of historical trends and the transmission of ideas. The earliest vegetarians in this account, from the 17th century, were mostly driven by religious ideas, though often with a strong scientific bent. For instance, Thomas Bushell, a disciple of the natural philosopher Francis Bacon, reasoned that, according to the Bible, humans lived to be 900 years old until after the Flood, when God gave them permission to eat meat, after which they started dying off at age 70; logic demanded that vegetarians therefore could live, if not to 900, to at least some greater age. To Judeo-Christian religious impulses, complicated by widespread contact with Hindu and other Indian ideas after the 17th century, were added ethical and proto-ecological arguments, with some maintaining that it was simply wrong to eat things that demonstrably had consciousness, and that creating feed for livestock was a wanton waste of natural resources. All these arguments are with us today, Stuart notes. Along the way, he identifies founding fathers of the self-help movement, including perhaps the first diet doctor in history. He looks into the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, moved by the rigor of Linnean science to argue that because women had only two breasts, as compared to, say, a wolf's many teats, our kind is likely not innately carnivorous: "Breasts," writes Stuart, "were not just symbols of gentle nourishment and innocence, they bore scientific testimony to humanity's original herbivorous nature." And he examines the effects of Darwinian theory on various strains of vegetarian thought, one of them the ideology propounded by Adolf Hitler, who seems to have thought that eating meat could "purify" him of any Jewishness flowing through his veins.Culinary and cultural history intertwined: readable, and endlessly interesting. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Literary Review
'scholarly, wide-ranging and utterly absorbing...Stuart is awesomely well-read.' --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
See all Product Description
An epic of non-carnivorous restraint.Stuart, a young British scholar, offers portraits of often little-known figures who would not eat anything with a mother or a face, and he blends these character studies with smart analyses of historical trends and the transmission of ideas. The earliest vegetarians in this account, from the 17th century, were mostly driven by religious ideas, though often with a strong scientific bent. For instance, Thomas Bushell, a disciple of the natural philosopher Francis Bacon, reasoned that, according to the Bible, humans lived to be 900 years old until after the Flood, when God gave them permission to eat meat, after which they started dying off at age 70; logic demanded that vegetarians therefore could live, if not to 900, to at least some greater age. To Judeo-Christian religious impulses, complicated by widespread contact with Hindu and other Indian ideas after the 17th century, were added ethical and proto-ecological arguments, with some maintaining that it was simply wrong to eat things that demonstrably had consciousness, and that creating feed for livestock was a wanton waste of natural resources. All these arguments are with us today, Stuart notes. Along the way, he identifies founding fathers of the self-help movement, including perhaps the first diet doctor in history. He looks into the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, moved by the rigor of Linnean science to argue that because women had only two breasts, as compared to, say, a wolf's many teats, our kind is likely not innately carnivorous: "Breasts," writes Stuart, "were not just symbols of gentle nourishment and innocence, they bore scientific testimony to humanity's original herbivorous nature." And he examines the effects of Darwinian theory on various strains of vegetarian thought, one of them the ideology propounded by Adolf Hitler, who seems to have thought that eating meat could "purify" him of any Jewishness flowing through his veins.Culinary and cultural history intertwined: readable, and endlessly interesting. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Literary Review
'scholarly, wide-ranging and utterly absorbing...Stuart is awesomely well-read.' --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
See all Product Description
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
 |
68% buy the item featured on this page: Bloodless Revolution: A Cultural History of Vegetarianism from 1600 to Modern Times£21.99 |
 |
25% buy Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal £6.51 |
 |
7% buy The Heretic's Feast: History of Vegetarianism |
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet. Create your own review
| |||
Video reviews
|
|
Customer Discussions
Beta (What's this?)|
This product's forum
(0 discussions)
Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Active discussions in related forums
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Food & Drink > Reference & Gastronomy > Gastronomy
- Books > Food & Drink > Reference & Gastronomy > History of Food
- Books > Food & Drink > Vegetarian & Vegan
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Diet & Nutrition > Special Diets
- Books > History > Countries & Regions > Asia > India
- Books > History > Cultural History
- Books > History > Religious History > Hinduism
- Books > History > Social & Economic History > Health & Welfare
- Books > Religion & Spirituality > Hinduism > Philosophy
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Social Issues > Animals & Society
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Social Issues > Ethical Issues
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Sociology
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
The Body Shop |
Beauty without the Beast |
Up to 50% off Dental Care |
Treat Someone
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). |
|||||||
| |||||
Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
You have no recently viewed items or searches.
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session. |
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers
| ||||
Amazon Home | |
| International Sites: United States | Germany | France | Japan | Canada | China | |
| Business Programs: Sell on Amazon | Fulfilment by Amazon | Join Associates | Join Advantage | |
| Customer Service | Help | View Basket | Your Account | |
| About Amazon.co.uk | Careers at Amazon | |
| Conditions of Use & Sale | Privacy Notice © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates |