For the Prevention of Cruelty: The History and Legacy of Animal Rights Activism in the United States

by Diane L. Beers

Animal rights. Those two words conjure diverse but powerful images and reactions. Some nod in agreement, while others roll their eyes in contempt. Most people fall somewhat uncomfortably in the middle, between endorsement and rejection, as they struggle with the profound moral, philosophical, and legal questions provoked by the debate. Today, thousands of organizations lobby, agitate, and educate the public on issues concerning the rights and treatment of nonhumans. For the Prevention of Cruelty is the first history of organized advocacy on behalf of animals in the United States to appear in nearly a half century. Diane Beers demonstrates how the cause has shaped and reshaped itself as it has evolved within the broader social context of the shift from an industrial to a postindustrial society. Until now, the legacy of the movement in the United States has not been examined. Few Americans today perceive either the companionship or the consumption of animals in the same manner as did earlier generations. Moreover, powerful and lingering bonds connect the seemingly disparate American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of the nineteenth century and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals of today. For the Prevention of Cruelty tells an intriguing and important story that reveals society’s often changing relationship with animals through the lens of those who struggled to shepherd the public toward a greater compassion.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Animals, Read For School, United States, Activism, Vegetarian

312 pages, Paperback

First published May 25, 2006

Reviews

[Ginny Messina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diane Beers clearly did an incredible amount of research to put together this history and analysis of the animal rights movement in the United States. It’s a fascinating story and so inspiring to read about the earliest advocates for animals. When the ASPCA was formed in 1866, humane officers were given the authority to arrest people for cruelty against their own animals, a huge milestone in the way animals were perceived. While they were laughed at by citizens and judges alike when they set out to make arrests, attitudes toward them and their efforts changed rapidly and animal protection efforts took off from there. Laws that we take for granted now (and that fall far short of adequate protection for animals let alone realization of their rights) were incredible and meaningful victories for the time.

Some of the efforts on behalf of animals were far more progressive than I would have guessed, and by the end of the 19th century, there was already an ideological struggle between those who advocated for reform and those who advocated for rights and abolition. The book ends with the publication of Singer’s Animal Liberation in 1975, which Beers notes compelled even conservative animal defenders to “another level of activism and ideology,” and serves as the beginning of the next stage of the story.

This book was published by a university press and suffers from some of the usual editing shortcomings as a result; ie, both paragraph and section breaks would have been welcome. But Beers is a really good writer and storyteller, so the book is very accessible and readable. The photos are absolutely wonderful; I wish there had been many more of them. (I just can’t get enough of the cover photo of men from the ASPCA in their suits and hats bringing buckets of water to workhorses!) And I now have an answer to the question “What historical figure would you most like to meet.” It’s Caroline Earle White, founder of the Pennsylvania SPCA and the American Anti-Vivisection Society (and not allowed to serve on the board of either group because she was a woman.) She was remarkable.


(One additional comment: if you buy this book, make sure that it is all there. My copy from Amazon was missing half of the bibliography and all of the index.)

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beers delivers a sound history of activism on behalf of animals in the United States. She convincingly argues that the movement has been much more successful than it has been given credit for, in part because widespread historical amnesia forgets the successes of early activists in changing popular opinion about animal welfare (and later animal rights) and building sufficient public support to foster change at the local and national levels. The book also reveals the movement's internal divisions, varient philosphies and motivational drivers, and strategical differences between moderate and radical activists. Beers effectively places changes in activists' strategies and developments within the movement in a broader historical context. It is not only a good history of the animal rights movement, but it offers potential insight into the nature of social movements in general.

The book had some shortcomings that adversely affected my rating of it though. First and foremost, Beers talks at length about the divide between humanitarians (supporters of animal welfare/rights) and conservationists/environmentalists. She makes the point the conservation movement's roots in sport hunting and its embrace of a utilitarian view of nature made collaboration with humanitarians difficult. She's draws much of her information on the early conservation movement from Thomas Dunlap's well-written history "Saving America's Wildlife." Beers misses one of the central points in Dunlap's book though. Dunlap shows the fissures in the conservation movement writ large, detailing the conflicts between utilitarian conservations and preservationists. Rather than address this difference, Beers groups both factions under the utilitarian umbrella. This is problematic. She also inexplicably discusses government action as if those actions were the work of non-governmental conservation groups. While Beers goes to great lengths to detail the nuances of the animal rights movement, she treats the conservation/environmental movement with a degree of carelessness. Her authority on the conservation/environmental movement is weakened by the fact that she failed to consult any sources from the movement. If she was going to comment at length about the conservation/environmental movement’s reluctance to working with animal rights groups, she should have looked to primary sources from groups associated with the conservation/environmental movement and quoted directly from them. In a separate section, Beers writes that women were roused to fight against animal experimentation more than men, in part because Victorian women had little control over the own bodies in the male-dominated medical world. She asserts that “images of the vivisected animal strapped to the table bore an uncanny and frightening resemblance to the gynecologically vivisected woman.” (p. 124) This seems extremely speculative. A check of the citations revealed that Beers was basing the claim on a single secondary source. Since she spent so much time rummaging around in the files of animal rights organizations, it would have benefitted her to drop a primary source reference into the footnote to support her contention. Without that, I am unconvinced that activist women made that connection as directly as Beers puts forth.

These complaints are minor when stacked up against the books merits. It is a recommended and worthwhile read.

[Martin Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an animal activist, I find it fascinating that virtually all of the arguments, tactics, and actions undertaken on behalf of animal liberation—and virtually all the arguments, tactics, and actions offered by those opposed to it—have been recycled over and over again through the last 150 years in the U.S. The schisms between moderates (a.k.a. welfarists) and radicals (a.k.a. abolitionists) were present almost from the beginning of the humane movement in the U.S. in the 1850s; and the abyss between environmentalists and animal advocates has been present for almost as long. PETA's outrageous stunts were presaged by Henry Bergh, founder of the ASPCA; one generation of moderates has been superseded by more radical groups, which then become moderate and attacked by the next generation of radicals. Beers, clearly someone who does not support cruelty toward animals, emphasizes the positive and the strides made over the last century and a half. She's keen to show how moderates and radicals have achieved much, and to stress how much has been (and can be) achieved, when all factions work together. The history only goes up to 1975, with a brief epilogue on the trends that follow—which look remarkably like what has gone before. I leave it to the reader to determine whether that makes you feel depressed or comforted.

Beers offers some pungent comments on an oft-commented feature of animal advocacy: that it's a movement led by men but run by women. She shows how the feminization of animal advocacy worked to the movement's disadvantage and advantage, and how much of the arc of the animal advocacy movement maps the human liberation movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She doesn't delve too deeply into sexism in the modern animal rights movement; but her analysis of its beginnings outlines just where the problems remain.

One caveat: The endnotes (organized by chapter) are not hyperlinked. I read the ebook, which means that it's a monumental pain to have to slide the bar back and forth to check on citations.

[Unny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic! What an incredible legacy of animal advocacy that has existed and I knew little about. The stories about groups and people are entertaining and captivating. It's also great to see how the author weaves in the current cultural and political changes happening in society and the gender, race, and class dynamics in the movement and in society that helped influence the direction of the movement.

[Teo · Rating 4 out of 5]

2025.09.09–2025.09.09

Contents

Beers DL (2006) (08:52) For the Prevention of Cruelty - The History and Legacy of Animal Rights Activism in the United States

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations

1. Resurrecting the Voice: Animal Advocacy in History
2. A Movement Takes Shape: The Origins of Animal Advocacy
3. Leaders and Followers: The New Humanitarians

4. “The Voice of the Voiceless”: Early Campaigns, 1866–1915
• “Cheaper Than Oats”: Workhorses
• From Slaughter to Swill Milk: Livestock
• “Orphans in the Storm”: Strays and Shelters
• Blood Sports
• Bergh and Barnum: Circuses
• Feathers and Furs: Wildlife
• The Power of Knowledge: Humane Education

5. Reaching Out to the Mainstream: Animal Advocacy Evolves, 1915–45
6. “Our Most Strenuous Protest”: Antivivisection before 1945

7. The Road to Liberation: The Rise of the Postwar Movement and the Era of Legislation, 1945–75
• The Context
• The Killing Floor
• The Laboratory Cage
• The Wild

Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index

[Zöe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took a course in college, on my way to becoming a vet tech, on animal advocacy and Dr. beers was my professor and I loved every minute of this class and this book. This book sits proudly on my shelf and I tell anyone interested in animal advocacy to read this.

[Erica Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! This is a must read for anyone interested in the animal activist movement in its historical context. The book covers the beginning of animal activism of the 1800’s, factory farming, circus protests, animal experimentation, workhorse protests, and other critical events that pushed ideology towards giving animals rights among humans.
The book is very informative relying heavily on facts. It reads more like a textbook in terms of lots of footnotes and how the extensive research is told. By giving the facts, the author doesn’t push her own emotions in her work, but wants the reader to absorb what is laid out and find their own conclusion and find their own way to contribute to the movement.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very "textbookish" study of the animal rights movement in the U.S. from the post-Civil War era through 1975. It was still pretty interesting but more dry than I am used to reading. Interesting to read about people's evolving views of animals and our relationship to them, and how they changed over time. The whole protest against fur has actually been going on for quite awhile (since early 20th-century) so a lot of this activism is not as new as I thought.

[Lauri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives a fantastic account of the history of how the animal protection movement began, in the middle 1800s, and its subsequent evolution. Very accessible and full of examples of victories and setbacks. My only complaint is that Beers stops her account in the 1970s and it would've been nice to have a section that led up to more recent history.

[Shad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scholarly but readable. A broad history of 100 or so years of advocacy for animals. A good beginning to my Lenten study related to my beliefs about animals' and nature's role in my life.