Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food | 
| Author: Gene Baur
Publisher: Touchstone
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $14.50
You Save: $10.50 (42%)
New (30) Used (8) from $14.40
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 24983
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2
ISBN: 0743291581
Dewey Decimal Number: 179.3
EAN: 9780743291583
ASIN: 0743291581
Publication Date: March 4, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new book. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling books online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20080515211443T
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Leading animal rights activist Gene Baur examines the real cost of the meat on our plates -- for both humans and animals alike -- in this provocative and thorough examination of the modern farm industry.Many people picture cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens as friendly creatures who live happily within the confines of a peaceful family farm, arriving as food for humans only at the end of their sun-drenched lives. That's what Gene Baur had been told -- but when he first visited a stockyard he realized that this rosy depiction couldn't be more inaccurate. Amid the stench, noise, and filth, his attention was drawn in particular to one sheep who had been cast aside for dead. But as Baur walked by, the sheep raised her head and looked right at him. She was still alive, and the one thing Baur knew for sure that day was that he had to get her to safety. Hilda, as she was later named, was nursed back to health and soon became the first resident of Farm Sanctuary -- an organization dedicated to the rescue, care, and protection of farm animals. The truth is that farm production does not depend on the family farmer with a small herd of animals but instead resembles a large, assembly-line factory. Animals raised for human consumption are confined for the entirety of their lives and often live without companionship, fresh air, or even adequate food and water.Viewed as production units rather than living beings with feelings, ten billion farm animals are exploited specifically for food in the United States every year. In Farm Sanctuary, Baur provides a thoughtprovoking investigation of the ethical questions involved in the production of beef, poultry, pork, milk,and eggs -- and what each of us can do to stop the mistreatment of farm animals and promote compassion. He details the triumphs and the disappointments of more than twenty years on the front lines of the animal protection movement. And he introduces sanctuary. us to some of the special creatures who live at Farm Sanctuary -- from Maya the cow to Marmalade the chicken -- all of whom escaped horrible circumstances to live happier, more peaceful lives. Farm Sanctuary shows how all of us have an opportunity and a responsibility to consume a kinder plate, making a better life for ourselves and animals as well. You will certainly never think of a hamburger or chicken breast the same way after reading this book.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 For such an all inclusive book -- brilliantly written. April 5, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book was brilliantly written considering all that it includes -- and that is a full look at how Farm Sanctuary I & II came to be, why, an in depth look at the factory farm industry, Farm Sanctuary's past and on-going efforts to create and change laws to protect animals, interlaced with personal stories about individual animals that are awe-inspiring and emotionally touching. You finish this book with a broad awareness of the realities, problems, and solutions to factory farming, well enough informed and directed to know exactly how best to help, stepwise -- as much or as little as you want. There is a gentle call to activism and vegetarianism veganism. Though, I recommend this book heartily to those who do consume meat and dairy products -- Gary, very smartly, does not discriminate. If we're going to use animals for food, we have to do so responsibly. This book shows us how. Gary did not leave one aspect or important fact unaddressed.
Truthful, touching and tear-jerking March 20, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
The very first time I visited Farm Sanctuary, I knew I had found my haven. Two years later, after interning at the New York shelter, followed by 1 1/2 years of employment there working with the animals that have a safe place thanks to Gene, I have just finished reconnecting with my initial bliss and thrill by reading this book.
Being in the world of Farm Sanctuary working hands-on with those animals, who, like Gene states, are each individuals, is a positively unique experience. Though I may seem a bit biased by writing this review, I must say that I have truly experienced the Farm, Gene's story, and the animals in a refreshing, new and beautiful way.
If you are new to the animal protection movement, and do not know yet the facts about industrialized farming, and the terrible falls our society has made toward abuse and neglect (by way of animals as well as consumers, farmers, employees and your every day family trying to eat a decent meal), then I STRONGLY recommend this being the first book to introduce you to these issues.
Written with a sense of passion, but without the sometimes harsh political jargon of AR activists that may appear to the average person as slanted, Gene weaves the roots of his activism and beliefs, factual information, touching stories about real animals, and the history of (in my opinion) the most bold, successful and important animal sanctuary in existence into an captivating read.
I believe that in years to come, once this incredible book has circled the hands of people over and over, that we shall see even more of a spread of compassion around and back again. Farm Sanctuary's story is an important one to tell, and god bless Gene, his work ethic and drive to have completed it and put it forth for the world to hear. For those of you out there, pass this on to everyone you love-- it just might change their minds, hearts and lives.. as well as the lives of animals depending on us to help.
 Not at all what I expected March 18, 2008
5 out of 44 found this review helpful
When I bought this book I was told that it was a modern adaptation of "Animal Farm." I found the book at a local store that I've always trusted for a good book at a good price. ANYWAY, I checked out the cover, which shows a cow attacking some guy, all of which promoted my belief that this book was about an animal uprising on a farm and a greater allusion to the Russian Communist Revolution of 1917. Boy was I wrong! This book has very little to do with "Animal Farm." It was about osme guy who takes animals that the meat industry thinks aren't worth killing. While I didn't particularly enjoy the book (as it failed to meet my expectations) I give it three stars because it did give me a good idea on how to save money on meat. Waste not want not, you know? It's an alright book.
Why farmed animals need sanctuary March 2, 2008
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Gene Baur's primary concern is the humane treatment of farmed animals. He connects the abusive cruelties resulting from factory farming, to environmental depredation and health risks to both human and farm animal populations. This book is a passionate and reasoned look at a topic that deserves the attention and understanding of anyone who eats to stay alive.
Farm Sanctuary chronicles Baur's personal development as an activist on behalf of factory farmed animals. The organization he founded is as the subtitle states, 'changing hearts and minds about animals and food.' (And changing laws to better protect farmed animals as well). For anyone unfamiliar with the accelerated assembly line that now treats animals like machines in order to glut the market with cheap meat, milk and eggs, this book will be an excellent introduction to that history and a survey of present conditions. For those already familiar with the cruelties, false economies and environmental dangers euphemistically known as 'concentrated or confined animal feeding operations' Baur has readably chronicled, widely and deeply, the realities for the animals and those who tend the animals-as-machines, as well as the consumer.
Background stories on the rescued non-human residents of Farm Sanctuary provide living examples of the manipulation and abuse that farm animals suffer. Downed animals are a case in point. Baur and his organization have worked for the humane treatment of 'downers' -- animals too weak, sick or injured and unable to walk into the slaughterhouse. Such animals are not legally supposed to enter the food supply, but there is every economic incentive to prod, drag or otherwise coerce a weak animal to walk, because a downed animal makes no money for anyone. One case in particular (p. 31), illustrates "another absurd feature of the economics of farming. Clearly the humane thing to do was to euthanize the cow. If she'd died without the vet's intervention, insurance probably would have covered her market price; if she'd survived, a local slaughterhouse might have paid something for her meat. Euthanizing her meant a financial loss -- it was cheaper to leave the cow alive and suffering. Economic interests were in direct conflict with humane concerns."
In addition to the book's comprehensive coverage of the conditions under which farmed animals are raised and slaughtered, an appendix of associated resources is also included, as well as a bibliography for related reading.
Remarkable, provocative, life changing March 1, 2008
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
This beautifully written, engaging, and compelling book tells the story of Gene Baur -- a modern-day hero and trailblazer -- and his remarkable journey of bringing light, peace, health, hope, and sanctuary to thousands of rescued farmed "animal ambassadors," the few who have been incredibly fortunate to call Farm Sanctuary home. In the telling of the founding and mission of Farm Sanctuary, Baur exposes the heart-wrenching truth about the disappearance of the American family farm and its replacement with the horrific evolution of mechanized, factory-style, farmed animal production, which has taken a devastating toll on American farmers, our land, our environment, our health, and the individual animals who suffer disgusting, unspeakable abuses at the hands of humans in the process of becoming "food."
It is also a story of courage, compassion, and hope. Through his revelations, Baur reveals the unique personalities of these animals, whom we come to see as the individuals they are, and in the process, compels us to explore our own hearts of compassion and seek practical ways to create and support positive social change.
Baur is a gifted writer who sheds a bright light on a dark, demonic segment of our culture. His bold accomplishments will astound, unsettle, startle, provoke, and move you to action. Farm Sanctuary is both a fascinating and disturbing page-turner and a testament to how one man's fortitude can ignite the mercy within us all. It is a powerful, important, and unforgettable book.
|
|
|
