An Unnatural Order: The Roots of Our Destruction of Nature (Fully Revised and Updated)

by Jim Mason

Overview

A fully revised and updated version of the classic work on the origins of animal agriculture and our longstanding contempt for and hatred of nature and animals.

In 1993, Jim Mason, journalist, advocate, and pioneering figure in the contemporary animal advocacy movement, published An Unnatural Order—a sweeping overview of the origins of our hatred and destruction of the natural world and its creatures, from the dawn of agriculture to the present day. Now fully revised and updated to reflect developments in paleoanthropology and ethology, as well as greater awareness of, and urgency regarding, the climate crisis, An Unnatural Order offers an expansive overview of what has changed (both for good and for ill) and what has unfortunately remained the same.

His message is clear: until we grapple with the question of the animal, and our relationship with animality and the natural world, we will not be able to confront the consequences of our perpetuation of environmental destruction, biodiversity collapse, and our alienation from the Earth and one another. As brilliantly polemical and richly descriptive as it was when it was published almost three decades ago, this new version of An Unnatural Order is sure to excite a passionate debate about our role in either saving the ecosystems upon which all species (including our own) rely, or bringing it all to an end.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590566312
Publisher:	Lantern Publishing & Media
Publication date:	03/23/2021
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Jim Mason was trained as a lawyer. He was one of founders and editor of the Animals Agenda magazine, and co-author (with Peter Singer) of Animal Factories (1980) and The Ethics of What We Eat (2006). He has written articles for The New York Times, New Scientist, Newsday, Orion, and Audubon magazine, and has contributed to several anthologies, including In Defense of Animals (2005). He lives in Virginia.

Table of Contents

New Preface ix

Preface 1993 xv

Prologue xix

1 Dominionism Identified 1

2 Before Agriculture: A World Alive and Ensouled 19

3 Animals: The Most Moving Things in the World 39

4 Agriculture: A New Relationship with Nature, a New World Order for Living Beings 55

5 Misothery and the Reduction of Animals and Nature 77

6 Misogyny and the Reduction of Women and Female Power 97

7 Racism and Colonialism; Dominating Lands and Others 109

8 Rituals of Dominionism-Then and Now 131

9 Beyond Dominionism 145

Epilogue: How to Move Toward Kinship 155

Acknowledgments 161

Bibliography 163

Index 177

About the Author

About the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Coauthor with Peter Singer of Animal Factories , the classic expose of the cruelty of mechanized animal farming and slaughter, Mason here writes an eloquent, important plea for a total rethinking of our relationship to the animal world. He analyzes the West's ``dominionist'' worldview which exalts humans as overlords and owners of other life, an outlook that he believes is rooted in millennia of animal husbandry. Speculating that dominionism arose with the transition from ancient mother-goddess religions to patriarchy, he ambitiously links our current exploitation and domination of nature to fears of our own animal nature, repressive antisexual attitudes, misogyny, curtailment of women's power, racism and colonialism. Human brains and thought processes evolved through close contact with animals, Mason argues, and restoring our kinship with animals is central to bridging the rift between humanity and nature. His powerfully argued manifesto will change many readers' attitudes toward hamburgers, animal experimentation, hunting and circuses. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This is one of a number of recent books that trace both environmental destruction and social oppression to the Western world view that sets humankind outside of, above, and in conflict with nature. What makes this work unique is the emphasis he places on the relationship between human beings and other animals as both explaining and symbolizing our dysfunctional way of life with its built-in patriarchy, misogyny, and racism. ``Dominionism'' justifies merciless exploitation of the earth and its creatures for human wealth and pleasure, but it has left a deep psychic wound. In pursuing his argument Mason (coauthor with Peter Singer of Animal Factories , LJ 6/1/80) piles up powerful and provocative examples and insights. He is less successful in convincing the reader of the sufficiency of his overall thesis. Recommended for libraries with patron interest in animal rights, feminism, or environmental ethics.-- Joan S. Elbers, formerly with Montgomery Coll., Rock ville, MD

Library Journal