Books

PUBLISHED: 2003
ISBN #: 0-7425-3352-2
RETAIL PRICE: $22.95 USA

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Described by Jeffrey Masson as "the single best introduction to animal rights
ever written," this new book by Tom Regan will structure the animal rights
debate for generations to come. In a style at once simple and elegant, Regan
dispels the negative image of animal rights advocates perpetrated by the mass
media, unmasks the fraudulent rhetoric of "humane treatment" favored by animal
exploiters, and explains why existing laws function to legitimize institutional
cruelty. Written by the leading philosophical spokesperson for animal rights,
Tom Regan's shocking exposé of animal abuse makes an essential and lasting
contribution that will significantly impact the history of animal rights advocacy
in America.

"Tom Regan's Empty Cages is a powerful call for justice on one of the most
urgent issues human society faces. Calmly, lucidly, he asks readers to confront
the miserable conditions we have inflicted on animals--not only in the
familiar cases of factory farming, product testing, and hunting, but in less
well-documented areas such as greyhound racing and circus performance. Answering the
charge that advocates for animal rights are crazy extremists, he shows
convincingly that they are, instead, thoughtful people who follow an argument to its
logical conclusion. The reader has three choices: find a flaw in the argument,
work for change, or throw the book away and try to forget it. The indelible
force of Regan's argument makes the third course very difficult."
~ Martha C. Nussbaum, University of Chicago

"All who care for animals, and those who see animal rights advocacy as
misanthropic extremism should read this book. It is a rude awakening--and a clarion
call--exposing the sham of "humane standards" and the lie of "unavoidable
necessity" touted by the industries of cruel animal exploitation. Tom Regan argues
with logic and compassion why such outrageous mistreatment must be abolished
for the good of all."
~ Michael W. Fox, Veterinarian, author, and syndicated columnist

"Empty Cages is a long-awaited and much-welcomed personal and heartfelt book
written by the 'dean' of the modern animal rights movement. Covering a broad
range of important topics in an easy-to-read style, Tom Regan dispenses with
misleading stereotypes about animal advocates and shows how nonsensical it is to
label those who work on behalf of animals as 'radicals' or 'extremists' . . .
Empty Cages is a must-read and deserves the widest of audiences."
~ Marc Bekoff, University of Colorado, Boulder

"Tom Regan's Empty Cages is for everyone who cares about animals: It will
inform those new to animal advocacy, inspire those already on the front lines,
and empower both. This book will define the future vitality and growth of the
animal rights movement for generations to come. If you want the full story about
animal rights, you must read Empty Cages."
~ Kim Stallwood, President, Institute for Animal Studies

"Animal factory farmers hide behind such phrases as 'humane treatment' and
'responsible care.' Tom Regan gently but honestly takes you into the hog and
chicken barns, onto the cattle feedlots; after that, it is up to you. This
thoughtful book deserves a wide readership."
~ Maxine Kumin, Pulitzer Prize winning poet and author of Always Beginning:
Essays on a Life in Poetry (2000).

"Tom Regan is the Tom Paine of animal rights, the rational visionary who,
while passionately defending the rights of man, no less passionately defends the
rights of animals. His contributions are historically unprecedented. The
animal rights movement may have evolved from the humane feelings of compassion and mercy. In Tom Regan, it has found the voice of reason."
~ Paul Watson, Co-founder of Greenpeace, Founder and President of the Sea
Shepherd Conservation Society.

"In a world where exploitation of other species has become mechanized and
institutionalized, the animals need a spokesman. That voice belongs to Tom Regan,
whose Empty Cages is a clearly written, eloquent argument in favor of
compassion for the beings with which we share the planet. Far from a polemic, it's an appeal to reason. Like Matthew Scully's Dominion, the book is both a personal
story of Regan's own evolution to animal rights and a ringing critique of the
casual cruelty that has come to inform our daily lives. Read this book and
you'll think twice about eating meat, watching a circus, wearing fur or
supporting animal-based research."
~ Jim Motavalli, Editor, E: The Environmental Magazine

"The book you are holding in your hands is, in my estimation, the single best
introduction to the topic of animal rights ever written."
~ Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

"Tom Regan delivers a searing indictment of the way we treat animals in the
world we have made for ourselves, and presents a trenchant case that animals
have or should have rights in the same way that human beings have."
~ J.M. Coetzee, winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature

"Every so often a book is written that is destined to change the way people
think. Tom Regan has written just such a book. Empty Cages is compelling
because it is logical, rational and written in an elegantly simple style. It will
educate and sadden you, and make you angry, but never is it inflammatory.
Reading it may not convert you into an animal rights advocate, at least not
immediately, but it will most definitely give you an understanding of and sympathy for the movement. And all animals, everywhere, will benefit. Please buy this
book, read it and tell your friends about it. Everyone needs a copy on their
bookshelf."
~ Jane Goodall

"The major animal user industries and governments throughout the world say
they treat animals 'humanely.' Empty Cages exposes the myth. Compassionate
people will be outraged when they read about the mind numbing cruelty inflicted
upon our fellow creatures. The challenge of animal rights is simple: Treat other
animals with the same respect that we would treat one another--a truly
revolutionary idea."
~ Jeremy Rifkin, author of The Biotech Century and Beyond Beef

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tom Regan is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at North Carolina State
University in Raleigh. The author of more than twenty books, he is universally
recognized as the intellectual leader of the animal rights movement. Among his most
well known works on animal rights are The Case for Animal Rights (1983), The
Struggle for Animal Rights (1987), Defending Animal Rights (2001), and, with
Carl Cohen, The Animal Rights Debate (2001).

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