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On Killing: Meditations on the Chase
Hunting is an exceedingly complicated subject, with outspoken voices on both sides claiming equal righteousness. However, there is a huge range between the extremes, in which thoughtful discourse on the issue becomes an examination of what it means to be alive, as well as the ethics of taking an animal's life. When the voices are those of writers and philosophers both past and present, some of whom hunt and some of whom don't, the debate becomes enormously satisfying and far more subtle.
In ON KILLING, commissioned essays by Dan O'Brien, Pam Houston, Robert F. Jones, Louis Owen, Dan Gerber, John Jerome, Mary Clearman Blew, LeAnne Schreiber, and others, are juxtaposed with classic excerpts from Leo Tolstoy's snipe hunting scene in Anna Karenina, Ernest Hemingway's fictional debate on killing animals versus killing men in For Whom the Bell Tolls, Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, and Jose Ortega y Gasset's pivotal essay "Ethics" from Meditations on Hunting. Also included are works by Jim Harrison, Isak Dinesen, Jim Corbett, Aldo Leopold, John James Audubon, Roderick Haig-Brown, Beryl Markham, and more.
ON KILLING is not merely an anthology of pieces written on hunting; it is a rich dialogue, reflecting the broadest spectrum of ideals. For thinking hunters, fishermen, naturalists, philosophers, and anyone interested in challenging discourse, ON KILLING is a book not to be missed.
In ON KILLING, commissioned essays by Dan O'Brien, Pam Houston, Robert F. Jones, Louis Owen, Dan Gerber, John Jerome, Mary Clearman Blew, LeAnne Schreiber, and others, are juxtaposed with classic excerpts from Leo Tolstoy's snipe hunting scene in Anna Karenina, Ernest Hemingway's fictional debate on killing animals versus killing men in For Whom the Bell Tolls, Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, and Jose Ortega y Gasset's pivotal essay "Ethics" from Meditations on Hunting. Also included are works by Jim Harrison, Isak Dinesen, Jim Corbett, Aldo Leopold, John James Audubon, Roderick Haig-Brown, Beryl Markham, and more.
ON KILLING is not merely an anthology of pieces written on hunting; it is a rich dialogue, reflecting the broadest spectrum of ideals. For thinking hunters, fishermen, naturalists, philosophers, and anyone interested in challenging discourse, ON KILLING is a book not to be missed.
251 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
19 people want to read
About the author
Robert F. Jones
46 books12 followersLibrarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 22, 2012
Many of the pieces contain truly thoughtful meditations on the ambivalence harbored by mature killers, the guilt and shame, but also the pride in and love of the prey.
Examinations like these ones should be passed on to PETA in exchange for their factory-farming videos. They might realize that hunters and fisherman are closer allies to their cause than they think.
That being said, the editor, perhaps intentionally, seemed to choose weak anti-hunting and anti-meat voices. There is value in such voices, especially those rigid moralists who at one time had to face up to the consequences of a high-minded but impractical philosophy of "do no harm". Not that they relent, but they understand that things aren't as simple as activists would like them to be. How far will you go to do less harm? Will you swerve your car? Will you give up meat? Will you lose your house? Would you starve to death? The lines drawn by each non-killer in this anthology make for interesting reading.
Still, I felt that the editor avoided stronger voices on the anti-killing agenda, and it damaged the discussion. The same way, he left out advocates of trophy hunting, a pasttime even most dyed-in-the -wool killers abhor.
Great, though. I highly recommend. Some passages may be inaccessible to non-hunters and urbanites.
Examinations like these ones should be passed on to PETA in exchange for their factory-farming videos. They might realize that hunters and fisherman are closer allies to their cause than they think.
That being said, the editor, perhaps intentionally, seemed to choose weak anti-hunting and anti-meat voices. There is value in such voices, especially those rigid moralists who at one time had to face up to the consequences of a high-minded but impractical philosophy of "do no harm". Not that they relent, but they understand that things aren't as simple as activists would like them to be. How far will you go to do less harm? Will you swerve your car? Will you give up meat? Will you lose your house? Would you starve to death? The lines drawn by each non-killer in this anthology make for interesting reading.
Still, I felt that the editor avoided stronger voices on the anti-killing agenda, and it damaged the discussion. The same way, he left out advocates of trophy hunting, a pasttime even most dyed-in-the -wool killers abhor.
Great, though. I highly recommend. Some passages may be inaccessible to non-hunters and urbanites.
May 16, 2012
Surprisingly good, this book reminded me that hunting and fishing can and should be done in a respectful way. It has made me question if I would be ok with eating game meat (which would be music to my dad's ears).
January 4, 2008
Mandatory reading for anyone that buys their meat cocooned in cling wrap and styrofoam. Attention: this was once a living, breathing beast.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews