The Gospel of Kindness

This is the essential text as we transform from a human-centric society to one more inclusive of animals. Perhaps the most important thing I learned from this book is how the organizations involved in saving and helping animals were so intrinsically involved with the ones that helped marginalized humans. Highly recommended.

Excellent

This was an amazingly detailed exploration of American animal activism in the 1800s-1930s. The author's thesis was that American humane efforts (the gospel of kindness), steeped as they were in notions of civility, citizenship, morality, religiosity, and goodness, were heavily used in defining the nation and its relationship with other societies, cultures, and colonies. That is, while intentions were good, advocates sometimes aggravated inequality by assuming that American values were premier, and other cultures must be civilized accordingly. Nationbuilding and animal advocacy went hand in hand.Although the author positions this as a novel theory in the introduction, it is hardly so. There are a number of other journal articles and a few books published in recent years that also make this claim. The author also notes that most contemporary history books do not touch on this nationalistic orientation of the movement, and understandably so, as the 2nd wave of animal rights was inspired by the civil rights and social justice work of the 1960s, not the humanitarian, social welfare, colonialist efforts of the first wave. For that matter, while many movement leaders today do not explicitly recollect this past, there is a strong intersectional focus for many. Again, this owes to its history in the civil rights era.Although the territory is not new, the level of detail is phenomenal. I consider myself an animal rights historian, and even I learned quite a bit. It will be indispensable on my library shelf. I also appreciated the organization of the book, allowing the reader a closer look at particular advocacy flashpoints to demonstrate her theory (I would also issue a content warning on this point, as she relies on quite a lot of graphic descriptions of animal suffering which did give me nightmares if I'm honest). Specifically, she explores the early SPCA efforts to assist working animals in American cities, the problems with rabies and "overpopulation" among dogs and cats at home and abroad, bullfighting in Mexico, Texas and Spain, cockfighting in Hawaii, Cuba and Puerto Rico, cow protection in India, and humane education in the colonies (namely the Philippines).These stories weave in intersections of race, nationality, gender, and class, emphasizing the ways in which the movement sought to highlight shared oppressions, but could also exacerbate them. For that matter, she is careful not to create a grand narrative of the movement's agenda, as there was considerable diversity in tactic and theory. While some organizations did see clear parallels, others were hostile. For instance, humane education efforts and the Bands of Mercy had many Black chapters and leaders, while the SPCA was also regularly reporting on lynching, housing discrimination, and other racisms. Yet, others cited Black inferiority as an example of why humane laws were necessary. For that matter, humane education in Black communities had to be framed as a form of "uplift" (thus reinforcing white supremacy and ethnocentrism). Indeed, compassion for shared oppression was nearly always countered with the supposed barbarity of a group as rationale for their subjugation (and increased animal welfare enforcement).