Review by Choice Review
The essays of Equestrian Cultures, edited by two English scholars at the University of Northern British Columbia, at once demonstrate the depth and sophistication of the current literature on human-animal relations and how boundless this scholarship may yet prove to be. The collection deliberately extends previous works on human-horse relations of earlier times and different places to the modern West. Twelve topical contributions appear under three headings: science and technology, commodification and consumption, and national identity. Given the centrality of modernity in this volume, all three sections evince another theme: subject and subjectivity. Many of the universally persuasive and insightful essays included here demonstrate the reciprocal making of selves and species in a profoundly modern context. Grounded in the humanities, the range of subjects is dizzying. Especially noteworthy are Kristen Guest's essay on the phenomenon of thoroughbred racehorse biographies, Rune Gade's subtle reading of the collaboration involved in Charlotte Dumas's photographs, and Charlotte Carrington-Farmer's fascinating study of Colonial Rhode Island's Atlantic horse trade. Readers with a disciplinary interest in literature, art history, and history will benefit from the collection; every student of human-animal relations should consider it required reading. Summing Up: Essential. Advanced undergraduates and above. --J. Wendel Cox, Dartmouth College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
