From Library Journal
--------------------
Spiegel, executive director of the Institute for the
Development of Earth Awareness, has revised her 1989 book to
present an in-depth exploration of the similarities between the
violence humans have wrought against other humans and our
culture's of animals. Using considerable scholarship,
she makes a strong case for links between white oppression of
black slaves and human oppression of animals. Her thesis is not
that the oppressions suffered by black people and animals have
taken identical forms but that they share the same relationship
between the oppressor and the oppressed. These comparisons
include the brandings and auctions of both slaves and animals,
the hideous means of transport (slave ships, truckloads of
cattle), and the tearing of offspring from their mothers. Her
illustrative juxtapositions are graphic, e.g., a photograph of a
chimpanzee in a syphilis experiment beside a photo of a black man
in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. As Alice Walker writes in the
preface, "This powerful book...will take a lifetime to forget."
Chilling yet enlightening, this provocative book is vitally
important in our efforts to understand the roots of individual
and societal violence. It belongs in all libraries. [The book
received a special award from The International Society for
Animal Rights.?Ed.]?Eva Lautemann, DeKalb Coll. Lib., Clarkston,
Ga.
-?Eva Lautemann, DeKalb Coll. Lib., Clarkston, Ga.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Read more ( javascript:void(0) )
Review
------
"Fascinating..." The New York Review of Books
"An extremely important book honest and fearless...Marjorie
Spiegel has said the single most important thing there is to say
about animals. I love this book." Elizabeth Marshall Thomas,
Author of The Hidden Life Of Dogs
"This powerful bookwill take a lifetime to forget." Alice Walker,
Author of The Color Purple, from her foreword to "The Dreaded
Comparison"
"This book belongs in all libraries." Library Journal
"THE DREADED COMPARISON: HUMAN AND ANIMAL SLAVERY by Marjorie
Spiegel...executive director of the Institute for the Development
of Earth Awareness compares the exploitation of human slaves and
of animals, as well as explores the putative justifications of
those who profit." Publishers Weekly
"Marjorie Spiegel ...has written a deeply provocative book."
David Brion Davis, Sterling Professor of History, Yale University
"THE DREADED COMPARISON is a wonderful and important book...I
loved it. I urge everyone to read it." Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson,
Author, When Elephants Weep
THE DREADED COMPARISON should be placed in schoolrooms across the
universe. Gordon Parks, Photographer and Author
Spiegels book is a powerful and important statement about
oppression and violence in Western culture. The author writes "To
those who would be master, what matters is not so much who their
slaves will be, but that there are slaves to be had". This work
is accessible to all adult audiences, and would be suitable for
college courses at any level in sociology, philosophy, or peace
studies, or examing issues of oppression in contemporary animal
issues. Multicultural Review
"...eerie parallels between slavery and dominance over animals
are well described in this provocative book. We know that slaves
have been treated like animals; Spiegel asks us to consider why
we treat animals like slaves." Tom Hayden, California State
Senator
"...Fascinating and beautifully concise." James Merrill, Author,
The Changing Light at Sandover
"...this book is all the more powerful for the testimony of
slaves and descendants of slaves who have voiced their empathy
strongly with the rest of oppressed creation..." The New
Scientist
"[An] invaluable contribution...Marjorie Spiegels extraordinary
book, The Dreaded Comparison, with its judiciously chosen
quotations and stunningly juxtaposed illustrations...packs a huge
punch." Boston Book Review
"[A] gem..." Choice
THE DREADED COMPARISON is essentially a consciousness-raising
exercise..." The Womens Review of Books -- Book Review
Read more ( javascript:void(0) )
See all Editorial Reviews (
/dp/product-description/0962449334/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&isInIframe=0
)