Review by Choice Review
The popular, growing field of human-animal studies has, up until now, been without a textbook. This work by DeMello (Central New Mexico Community College), one of the pioneers in human-animal studies, is very broad in scope, as befits this wide-ranging area. Scientific topics focus on animal behavior studies. Other subjects discussed range from pets and domestication to meat eating and animals in research. Yet the book provides an entirely different aspect, as illustrated in the chapter "The Social Construction of Animals." Additional chapters explore animal depiction in movies, literature, and religion; animal workers; and animals on display in zoos and circuses. The book ends by discussing animals' "moral status," although this reviewer would have put this topic in the beginning. The work has two drawbacks. First, while "animal" is never defined, the book primarily deals with mammals, which represent less than half a percent of the animal species on Earth. Second, DeMello is American, and her discussion of attitudes, values, and regulations in particular takes the viewpoint of that country, making it less useful for those outside the US. But with such depth and diversity, teachers can choose the directions to take their students, and they will find this book a valuable resource indeed. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. J. A. Mather University of Lethbridge
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
