The study of animals - and the relationship between humans and other animals - is now one of the most fiercely debated topics in contemporary science and culture. Animals have a long history in human society, providing food, labour, sport and companionship as well as becoming objects for exhibit. More contemporary uses extend to animals as therapy and in scientific testing. As natural habitats continue to be destroyed, the rights of animals to co-exist on the planet - and their symbolic power as a connection between humans and the natural world - are ever more hotly contested. The Animals Reader brings together the key classic and contemporary writings from Philosophy, Ethics, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Anthropology, Environmental Studies, History, Law and Science. As the first book of its kind, The Animals Reader provides a framework for understanding the current state of the multidisciplinary field of animal studies. This anthology will be invaluable for students across the Humanities and Social Sciences as well as for general readers.

Linda Kalof is Professor in the Dept. of Sociology at Michigan State University. She is author of Looking at Animals in Human History and co-editor of The Earthscan Reader in Environmental Values and the forthcoming major multi-volume works, A Cultural History of Animals and A Cultural History of the Human Body.  Amy J. Fitzgerald is on the faculty in the Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and author of Animal Abuse and Family Violence.

Prologue: Animals, by Randy Malamud * Editorial Introduction, by Linda Kalof and Amy Fitzgerald * PART 1. Animals as Philosophical and Ethical Subjects * Introduction * Aristotle. The History of Animals * Jeremy Bentham. Principles of Morals and Legislation * Marjorie Spiegel. In Defense of Slavery * Peter Singer. Animal Liberation or Animal Rights? * Tom Regan. The Rights of Humans and Other Animals * Martha Nussbaum. The Moral Status of Animals * Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Becoming-Animal * Further Reading * PART 2. Animals as Reflexive Thinkers * Introduction * Michel de Montaigne. An Apology for Raymond Sebond * René Descartes. From the Letters of 1646 and 1649 * Clinton R. Sanders and Arnold Arluke. Speaking for Dogs * Marc Bekoff. Wild Justice and Fair Play: Cooperation, Forgiveness, and Morality in Animals * Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy. Grief, Sadness, and the Bones of Elephants * Carel P. van Schaik, Marc Ancrenaz, Gwendolyn Borgen, Birute Galdikas, Cheryl D. Knott, Ian Singleton, Akira Suzuki, Sri Suci Utami, and Michelle Merrill. Orangutan Cultures and the Evolution of Material Culture * Further Reading * PART 3. Animals as Domesticates, "Pets" and Food * Introduction * Steven Mithen. The Hunter-Gatherer Prehistory of Human-Animal Interactions * Harriet Ritvo. Animal Planet * Yi-Fu Tuan. Animal Pets: Cruelty and Affection * Plutarch. The Eating of Flesh * Jim Mason and Mary Finelli. Brave New Farm? * Carol J. Adams. The Sexual Politics of Meat * David Nibert. The Promotion of "Meat" and its Consequences * Further Reading * PART 4. Animals as Spectacle and Sport Introduction * Pliny the Elder. Combats of Elephants * Garry Marvin. On Being Human in the Bullfight * Rhonda Evans, DeAnn K. Gauthier and Craig J. Forsyth. Dogfighting: Symbolic Expression and Validation of Masculinity * Randy Malamud. Zoo Spectatorship * Matt Cartmill. Hunting and Humanity in Western Thought * Further Reading * PART 5. Animals as Symbols * Introduction * John Berger. Why Look at Animals? * Claude Lévi-Strauss. The Totemic Illusion * Boria Sax. Animals as Tradition * Steve Baker. What is the Postmodern Animal? * Jonathan Burt. The Illumination of the Animal Kingdom: The Role of Light and Electricity in Animal Representation * Further Reading * PART 6. Animals as Scientific Objects * Introduction * Coral Lansbury. The Brown Dog Riots of 1907 * Lynda Birke. Into the Laboratory * Sarah Whatmore. Hybrid Geographies: Rethinking the "Human" in Human Geography * Sarah Franklin. Dolly's Body: Gender, Genetics and the New Genetic Capital * Donna Haraway. Cyborgs to Companion Species: Reconfiguring Kinship in Technoscience * Further Reading