The Longest Struggle: Animal Advocacy from Pythagoras to PETA

by Norm Phelps

From the first hominids who hunted woolly mammoths to today's factory farms and bio-engineering labs, The Longest Struggle: Animal Advocacy from Pythagoras to PETA tells the story of animal exploitation and the battle for animal justice. After describing the roots of animal rights in the ancient world, author Norm Phelps follows the development of animal protection through the Enlightenment, the anti-vivisection battles of the Victorian Era, and the birth of the modern animal rights movement with the publication of Peter Singer's Animal Liberation. In a brisk, readable narrative, The Longest Struggle traces the campaigns of animal rights pioneers like Henry Spira, Alex Hershaft, and Ingrid Newkirk, as well as leaders who have come more recently on the scene like Heidi Prescott, Karen Davis, and Bruce Friedrich. Always grounding his story in its historical setting, Phelps describes the counterattack that the animal abuse industries launched in the 1990s and analyzes the controversies that have roiled the movement almost from the beginning, including "national groups vs. grass roots," "abolitionists vs. new welfarists," and activists who favor arson and intimidation vs. those who support only peaceful, legal forms of protest. The Longest Struggle concludes with an overview of current campaigns and tactics, and an assessment of the state of the movement as we enter a new century, including the threat represented by an overzealous "war on terror". Thoroughly researched and annotated, The Longest Struggle reflects its author's two decades as an animal rights activist and his access to movement leaders who have shared with him their personal stories of campaigns that made animal rights history. At once an accessible history of animal protection thought and a revealing narrative of campaigns for animal rights, The Longest Struggle is must read material for everyone who wants to understand the most radical social justice movement of our time.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, History, Activism, Politics, Vegan

368 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2007

About the author

Norm Phelps was the spiritual outreach director of The Fund for Animals, as well as a founding member of the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians (SERV) and a contributing writer for Satya. His goal was for faith communities of all traditions to include animals within the scope of their compassionate ministries.

Reviews

[Mark Hawthorne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laying the groundwork for this penetrating and thoroughly engaging survey of animal advocacy, Norm Phelps begins with the dawn of civilization, when humans began to enslave animals for food, clothing, sport and sacrifice. We witness millennia of profound abuse before any real advance is made in the interest of animals, though a few early voices of reason appear – Jesus, for example, may have been history’s first animal liberator.

The author brings his considerable experience as an activist and writer to bear here, introducing the reader to some of the movement’s most fascinating activists and the campaigns they pioneered. His examination of campaign strategies includes those that did not fare so well – and why. Phelps has created a true page-turner here; indeed, I re-read the book again a month after reading it, just to absorb it all.

“The Longest Struggle” is a lively account of the evolution of animal protection, revealing how the movement has grown from the ideas of a few ancient philosophers to become one of the most influential forces of modern society. If you’re looking for a comprehensive discussion of animal advocacy – including its origins, strategies and controversies – look no further.

[Ginny Messina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Norm Phelps describes attitudes toward animals pretty much since the beginning of time, with a focus on animal activism in the 19th and 20th centuries. He’s a good historian and the book is absolutely packed with interesting information. He brings a much stronger bias to his perspective on activism than Diane Beers does in For the Prevention of Cruelty The History and Legacy of Animal Rights Activism in the United States. But since I share his bias, I didn’t mind. For anyone who wants to understand how we got to where we are now in the animal rights movement, this is an essential book.

[Martin Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am the publisher of this book, and, in considering a new work by Norm, I found myself rereading this book from 2007. I was reminded of what a passionate, often wry, and thorough introduction this volume is to the history of animal advocacy, and how it boldness and largeness of scope is balanced by an engaging writing style that doesn't make the book seem like an endless list of dates and names. Norm also concentrates on different areas of animal advocacy amid the generally linear chronology, which means that the narrative moves back and forth through time without too much confusion. I'm proud that Lantern has managed to produce such a fine and thorough history.

[Steve George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring and sobering simultaneously. The author showcases a history of the animal rights movement from its grassroots to the modern day (2007), how far its come, and how far there is still to go. A perspective on the movement I didn't realize I needed to help shape my own contribution. I would love to read an afterword that covers the past 15 years given the explosion of social media and global connectivity via the internet - as described in the conclusion, a tool of hope and optimism for exposing the cruelties of animal exploitation in all industries.

[Steven Rouk · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging, epic tale of the plight of animals and those remarkable humans who have come to their aid through the years. This book is wonderful—it has helped me see the connection between the past and future of the animal rights movement, and I now feel a supportive kinship with dozens of individuals throughout history who have done their best to help others.

If you consider yourself someone who cares about animal rights, definitely let yourself sit down and enjoy reading through this book.

[John Boland · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best history of Animal Rights from beginning of history to mid 2000's.

[Tushar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Changed my perspective on vegetarianism. Great work.

[Ann Ferree · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and comprehensive overview. At times, Phelps shares his own opinions, which adds a sense of transparency and encourages readers to form their own perspectives based on the wide array of facts presented. I'm ready for an updated edition that covers the past two decades!

[Kate Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

This well-researched history of the animal protection movement filled in for me many missing pieces in understanding both the evolution of animal rights philosophy and the development of organizations working to bring compassion for animals into mainstream Western societies. Along the way and down the centuries, we meet a host of committed activists, well-known and obscure.

Among the latter is Lewis Gompertz (1779-1865), an inventor living in London, who campaigned for slaves, women and the poor as well as for animals. He was advocating a vegan diet as early as 1824 in his book Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes. He published the world's first animal protection periodical, The Animal's Friend, or the Progress of Humanity. His organization was instrumental in getting a nationwide ban in England on baiting and animal fighting enacted in 1835. He walked the talk in his personal life as well; he refused to travel by horse or mule-drawn conveyance, which meant that everywhere he went in London, he walked. (This was before London's subways were built.) Horses--numbering in the hundreds of thousands--who pulled carriages, wagons and streetcars, were often whipped and driven until they died, their needs for rest and sufficient food and water ignored in the name of profit. Beyond London, Gompertz went only to places within walking distance of a railway station. "It is entirely reasonable," Phelps writes, "to call Lewis Gompertz the first modern animal rights activist." (p. 103)

Some of the first who stood up for animals, such as founding board members of the SPCA, maintained a selective, classist view of which kinds of animal abuse were offensive. These wealthy gentlemen opposed the cockfighting engaged in by the poor, but said nothing about the frequent hunting and shooting indulged in by the rich.

Readers looking for an objective, dispassionate account of this history will not find it here. Phelps leaves no doubt about where he stands, often allowing his frustration and outrage to show. For example, he calls the apostle Paul's taking the Aristotelian view--that animals are a lower order of being to whom we have no moral duties--"one of the most appalling moral choices in the history of Western civilization." (p. 53) Or this, describing a survey in the 1990s that showed 60% of all animals entering shelters during that time period were killed: "If I entered an institution knowing that the staff were likely to kill me within a few days, I would not think of that establishment as a ‘shelter.' I would think of it as a death camp." (p. 112) For those of us who agree with him, though, such passion is understandable. Phelps, who died a year ago this month, was an engaging spokesperson and a thorough researcher; I wish he were still alive to continue the narrative, which ends in 2006.

I would like to see The Longest Struggle attract a wide readership. Vegans and animal rights activists are an obvious audience, but anyone interested in social reform would be educated, amazed, and entertained by picking this up and finding out more about how compassion for the most marginalized beings--non-human animals--arose and developed.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book began really well, but by chapters 15+, it devolved into the author's opinion on modern animal rights groups, more than a history of them. He would make claims about some organizations, and then talk about how much he disagreed with them more than he talked about the actual organization. He also defended the practices of ones he likes, but not with facts to back up his claims. That's not really what I was looking for. I know a lot about modern animal rights movements, and wanted to learn more about them -- not hear what he thinks about them.

I did, however, find some really interesting historical figures, and his ideas about the "cloak of invisibility" is useful in thinking about the block people can have when not considering the suffering of animals. It would be a good book for a new AR activist, but skip the last chapters if you have been an activist for awhile.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comprehensive.