Animal-rights books I wish someone would write
Sometimes, when the prospect of change in the here and now feels dim, I’m tempted to look for another animal-rights book project. Previously, I wrote a biography of the founder of the Animal Liberation Front and other texts. These are some of the book ideas I’ve been playing around with lately. I think they’re all more ambitious than what I’m capable of, but I wish someone would write them. Without further ado, and in no particular order:
— AN EXAMINATION OF STALINIST REPRESSION OF VEGETARIANISM. In the early 2010s, when I was writing articles about the relationship between socialism and animal protection, I stumbled across some references to the Soviet government closing vegetarian societies and restaurants after the rise of Joseph Stalin. I still don’t know much more about this beyond what I’ve just said, however I’d love to learn more. I gather the action was motivated by a view such organizations were religious or petit bourgeois, which I’d guess was accurate to a certain extent.
— AN INTRODUCTION TO THEOSOPHY AND HOW IT RELATED TO THE ANIMAL MOVEMENT. If you read about animal activists in the late 19th and early 20th century, there’s a good chance you’re going to stumble across some theosophists. I don’t know much about this religious group, but they seem to borrow a lot from Hinduism. A rudimentary knowledge of theosophy would improve my understanding of the era. Its adherents seem to have developed a reputation as cranks. Perhaps this is deserved. I’m unsure. That said, I imagine most religious groups could be portrayed as strange if their beliefs were presented to an unfamiliar audience in an unflattering way.
— AN ANALYSIS OF HOW WORLD WAR II IMPACTED WILD AND DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. I’ve seen some academic books which look at the environmental impact of World War II. I wonder if something similar could be done in relation to animal suffering and death. You’d probably need to use anecdotal evidence to discuss the impact on wild creatures, but perhaps there would be statistics regarding domesticated ones. I imagine you could make a pretty persuasive argument war impacts nonhumans to a greater extent than is generally acknowledged.
— AN OVERVIEW OF THE PORTRAYAL AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES USE OF ANIMALS IN CINEMA. I’m not sure how pressing a subject this is, but I love movies. I wish a serious film scholar would take readers from the birth of the medium to the present day, exploring both the representation of animals in movies and how nonhuman actors were exploited. It could be really interesting to track how the development of technologies like animatronics and computer-generated imagery lessened Hollywood’s use of such performers.
— A MATERIALIST ARGUMENT FOR WHY INDIAN RELIGIONS ARE MORE ANIMAL-FRIENDLY THAN ABRAHAMIC ONES. It seems the reason Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism generally have more compassionate views about nonhuman treatment than Judaism, Christianity and Islam is because the former emerged from societies less dependent on animal agriculture due to environmental factors. But I’d like someone to build out this theory, which is by no means original to me.