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Vegetarianism: A History
 
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Vegetarianism: A History (Paperback)

by Colin Spencer (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Grub Street; 2nd Revised edition edition (31 Jan 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1902304586
  • ISBN-13: 978-1902304588
  • Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.6 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 597,147 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description
The aim of this book is to explore "the psychology of abstention from flesh and to discover why omnivorous humans at times voluntarily abstain from an available food". Spencer begins in pre-history and ends in modern times.

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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating. A wealth of facts covering the complete history, 28 Nov 2001
By A Customer
Vegetarianism: A History by Colin Spencer ISBN 1 902304 58 6

This volume is a smorgasbord of vegetarian history, for all who want to trace vegetarianism from early humankind through to the Ancient Greeks, the impact of Judeo-Christianity and onwards to the present time. Pythagoras (530BC) is one of many individuals, including Seneca, Ovid, St Francis, Bernard Shaw, Wagner, Gandhi, and others whose lives the author traces in relation to vegetarianism. Seems St Francis preached to the birds, but he still ate them!

The author also delves into the dietary beliefs of various Christian sects, including the Pauline concept of Christianity which was antagonistic towards animals, and Buddhist beliefs and practices that stood in sharp contrast. When the Established Church conducted cruel crusades, the refusal to eat meat was a sign for many that such people were heretics, and they suffered for this. Whether seeking to exercise compassion by avoiding the killing of sentient fellow creatures, or just to protect one's own health and environment, vegetarians throughout history have commonly experienced ridicule, even murder.

By the time of the Renaissance, meat eating was firmly entrenched in society's mores, especially as a sign of wealth and power, though by the 15th and 16th centuries there were many dissidents voicing abhorrence of hunting. By the 20th century, vegetarianism gained the respect of some nutritionists, and by 1944, the Vegan Society was founded in England. Animal rights came late into the picture. In 1965. Brigid Brophy wrote a full-page article for the Sunday Times entitled 'The Rights of Animals' - the public was unaware what modern livestock farming entailed. Factory farming, methods of slaughter and so on, are not looked upon kindly by the public, though generally the public prefers not to think about any of this. The author also covers government bungles in relation to BSE, vCJD, and genetic engineering.

This book is not for the faint hearted, and neither does it pretend to be light reading, but it is absolutely fascinating, and has a wealth of facts. I'd like to have seen as much in-depth writings about recent times as of earlier days. This is an excellent history of vegetarianism, well indexed with an appendix

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars History of an enduring current of thought and practice, older perhaps than civilisation itself..., 16 Feb 2008
By Jeremy Bevan (West Midlands, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
A revealing and wide-ranging account of why people through history have declined to eat meat. Starting with an attempted reconstruction of anthropoid diets in prehistory as largely without meat, Spencer quickly gets onto Pythagoras' belief in the transmigration of souls, and what he sees as related developments in the thought of Hinduism and Buddhism. He goes on to examine how the philosophical speculation of gnostic and Manichean variations on `orthodox' Christianity provided a rationale for avoiding meat on the part of those who wanted to keep the soul untainted by things (literally) `of the flesh' - a rationale that endured into the Middle Ages in the dietary practice of the (mercilessly persecuted) Bogomils and Cathars. Only in the modern era do arguments about animal rights and the economic wastefulness of rearing animals on grains come to dominate rationales for being vegetarian. As Spencer's account unfolds towards our own time, it broadens out into a fascinating social and culinary history, too. You can readily see how a combination of the `social cachet' of meat-eating, and the almost complete absence of vegetables (or at least properly cooked ones) in the UK diet until the 20th century `did for' non-meat diets, despite the protests of groups such as the Bible Christians (19th century) and of individual writers over a longer period.

But the beauty of Spencer's only slightly flawed account (Jesus as Essene, and the over-simplified depiction of `orthodox' Christianity as necessarily antithetical to vegetarianism are perhaps two particular critiques that can be levelled at it) is that it enables us to see vegetarianism for what it is: not just a `fad', but part of an enduring current of thought and practice stretching back through the millennia. Strongly recommended.
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