{"product_id":"the-gospel-of-kindness-animal-welfare-and-the-making-of-modern-america-9780190092443","title":"The Gospel of Kindness: Animal Welfare and the Making of Modern America","description":"When we consider modern American animal advocacy, we often think of veganism, no-kill shelters, Internet campaigns against trophy hunting, or celebrities declaring that they would rather go naked than wear fur. Contemporary critics readily dismiss animal protectionism as a modern secular\u003cbr\u003emovement that privileges animals over people. Yet the movement's roots are deeply tied to the nation's history of religious revivalism and social reform. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Gospel of Kindness\u003c\/em\u003e, Janet M. Davis explores the broad cultural and social influence of the American animal welfare movement at home and overseas from the Second Great Awakening to the Second World War. Dedicated primarily to laboring animals at its inception in an animal-powered world, the\u003cbr\u003emovement eventually included virtually all areas of human and animal interaction. Embracing animals as brethren through biblical concepts of stewardship, a diverse coalition of temperance groups, teachers, Protestant missionaries, religious leaders, civil rights activists, policy makers, and\u003cbr\u003eanti-imperialists forged an expansive transnational gospel of kindness, which defined animal mercy as a signature American value. Their interpretation of this gospel extended beyond the New Testament to preach kindness as a secular and spiritual truth. As a cultural product of antebellum\u003cbr\u003erevivalism, reform, and the rights revolution of the Civil War era, animal kindness became a barometer of free moral agency, higher civilization, and assimilation. Yet given the cultural, economic, racial, and ethnic diversity of the United States, its empire, and other countries of contact, \u003cbr\u003estandards of kindness and cruelty were culturally contingent and potentially controversial. Diverse constituents defended specific animal practices, such as cockfighting, bullfighting, songbird consumption, and kosher slaughter, as inviolate cultural traditions that reinforced their right to\u003cbr\u003eself-determination. Ultimately, American animal advocacy became a powerful humanitarian ideal, a touchstone of inclusion and national belonging at home and abroad that endures to this day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Janet M. Davis\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/15\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.05lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.30h x 6.10w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780190092443\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJanet M. Davis\u003c\/strong\u003e is Associate Professor of American Studies, History, and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of \u003cem\u003eThe Circus Age: Culture and Society under the American Big Top\u003c\/em\u003e, as well as the editor of \u003cem\u003eCircus Queen and Tinker Bell: The Life of Tiny Kline\u003c\/em\u003e. Her opinion pieces have been published in the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eNewsday\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis title is not returnable\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":39927185211507,"sku":"9.78E+12","price":28.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_0c5c3b10-7066-4512-9ee8-0c2178e92c55.jpg?v=1647523683","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/en-de\/products\/the-gospel-of-kindness-animal-welfare-and-the-making-of-modern-america-9780190092443","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}