Animal Liberation

  'Animal Liberation' a book by Peter Singer. Avon Book, l975. Revised version l990.
     
         "this book is not about pets," writes Australian-born philosopher Peter Singer in the preface to his book 'Animal Liberation'. What the book is about, is how we people mistreat and torture animals of all kinds.
    Singer attacks what he calls 'speciesm' or the belief that we humans see ourselves as better than animals and can do with them what we want. When the book came out about 40 years ago, some people thought it was a joke. Others dismissed it as an extremist tract. But the book that mixes philosophy with horrific tales of animal torture in the end won a  wide audience.
     The philosophy and the torture scenes makes the book hard to read at times. Still, quite a few people, including the author, became vegans. Some did it after reading the book.
     For a more up-to-date pitch for veganism, check out 'Diet For A New America' by John Robbins. But Singer's book did revive the debate about how we hurt animals. Journalists dubbed the book "The Bible of Animal Liberation". Forty years on, it still is.