Rating: 
Summary: Are we uninformed or are we in denial?
Review: When my mother asked me why I was reading a book about a slaughterhouse investigation, I told her that I wanted to know what animals in the meat industry are going through so that it would inspire me to act. I remember a co-worker telling me that the typical method for slaughtering cows was to slit their throats, and I wondered even then how they could be spared from pain.After reading Gail's book, I am more than shocked by the sheer brutality inflicted on these animals. I know that her focus was animal welfare at the beginning of the investigation, and it continues to be her focus even though to get the public's attention, she had to shift to the "people" issue of meat contamination. I go over and over these scenarios in my mind each day. How can we cheer a movie like "Babe," and then read about how factory pigs are frozen to truck walls and pulled off by workers only to leave a good chunk of the pig's skin, flesh, and internal organs on the wall, pigs suffocating in pools of other pigs' blood, a steer whose front legs are blow-torched off because in a fit of panic he got stuck in some slats and couldn't get out. As a society, we don't want to hear these stories. We have a hard enough time hearing about children dying because they were left in cars with no windows open. The most shocking statement to me was the USDA inspectors' union leader who said that those in the meat industry think of the animals as "products they are dimsantling." There is absolutely no regard on the part of corporate officers, and worse, VETERINARIANS, for the pain these animals experience. Chilling cannot begin to describe this book. I continue to have dreams about it. I was looking for some rays of hope in the book, and what I realized was that the people I see eating beef, pork, and chicken do not want these animals to experience this kind of pain. They just don't know about it. It's up to those of us who are brave enough to face the reality to educate them. This book will! be a hard sell for anyone, just as it was for Gail. However, it was a book that simply had to be written. I applaud Gail for having the compassion and foritude to do it. She deserves so much.
Rating:
Summary: The USDA is not your friend.
Review: Mind-blowing. This book will definitely cause people to think about what they eat. I just have four pertinent thoughts: 1. GO OPRAH! She won the first lawsuit and now they're trying to take her back to court. 2. SHARE/INFORM. This book will cause many people to reassess their meat and make other choices (i.e. purchase organic meat), but let's not abandon others. There are those in schools, retirement homes, hospitals, restaurants who may not be aware of this issue or don't realize how serious it is. As others have suggested, let's share our books and spread the word. 3. IRRADIATION. Most people are afraid that irradiation will introduce a cancer-causing agent. No, it'll be much worse. Irradiation is to be the USDA's silver bullet for tainted, spoiled meat. So who knows what will be placed on the conveyer belts and filling our bellies in the name of MEAT? But it'll be okay because it's irradiated & won't kill us. If the meat industry is corrupt and financially opportunistic right now, what will they be once irradiation is fully implemented? 4. ORGANIC. Individuals have already sent the USDA a strong message, but we need to be ever vigilant. There is 'tis. Few issues have so galvanized by generation-X addled mind.
Rating:
Summary: It's making me think twice!!!
Review: Please, everyone give me 15 seconds!!! I am a meat eater, a former meatcutter and general all-around lover of meats. I read Gail's book and I shudder at the inhumanity shown to our "farm animal friends" and meatpacking facility employees as well. All in the name of profit, these corporations insist. Just because of money, what have so-called "human beings" become? You can easily read this book in a couple 2 or 3 hours and you will seriously think twice of slapping that hamburger, pork chop or chicken leg on the grill. After reading Gail's book, a chef salad with veggies, croutons and oil&vinegar dressing does not sound bad at all !!! After reading this book, you will be seriously checking out your local chicken, turkey, egg, pork and beef providers very carefully!!! Please get yourself a copy of Gail's book, read it, then pass it on to all of your friends who give a da*n about humanity!!! A MUST-READ BOOK !!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Shocking and outrageous--a must-read
Review: I cannot recommend this book more highly, even if, like me, you felt you were well aware of the cruelty involved in the slaughter industry. This book is extremely well-researched and well-documented, with many discussions with plant workers, union officials and inspectors. Their indictment is damning, their descriptions almost unbelievable, and the book will leave you reeling.
Rating:
Summary: a gripping, damning indictment of the meat industry
Review: This is, quite simply, a fabulous book. As riveting as any fiction thriller, this book leads the reader through the real-life hells that comprise the slaughterhouses of America. Apart from documenting mind-numbing cruelty to animals, the book also highlights the effects of increased deregulation, including serious health and safety issues for workers and consumers. Read this book. .. Then recommend it to everyone you know.
Rating:
Summary: powerful expose of meat industry
Review: This powerful, gut-wrenching, horrifying indictment of the U.S. meat industry will hopefully do at the end of the 20th century what Upton Sinclair's THE JUNGLE did at the beginning--serve as a wake-up call to the nation to take a closer look at the food it eats. Eisnitz's gripping, horrifying page-turner of a book is based on her tenacious investigation that includes extensive interviews with current and former slaughterhouse workers and disgusted USDA inspectors. She tells a story of unbelievable cruelty and corruption that begins with her investigation of a single meatpacking plant in Florida where somebody informs her about animals bled, skinned, and dismembered alive (a common industry practice, as the book demonstrates). As her investigation proceeds and more people come forward to testify, she traces the ever-widening circles of cruelty, corruption, and contempt for animals, workers, and the public that extend to the highest levels of government. Very readable (with lots of dialogue) and truly unforgettable.
Rating:
Summary: Gail A. Eisnitz is a Modern Day Heroine
Review: Gail A. Eisnitz is one of the bravest, brighest lights on this planet. I recently had the privilige of meeting and interviewing her and was immensely impressed and inspired by her unflinching dedication to tell the truth about what's taking place in America's slaughterhouses. For an update on Gail's work, please visit www.hfa.org, the website of the Humane Farming Organization. I am a yoga teacher and I wish that all yoga teachers and their students would read this book. The great yoga masters through the ages urge us to consider all aspects of our lives and to revere all living things. Yoga addresses the ethical life through a whole range of practices that encourage us to live in harmony with nature, which includes how we treat animals. The practice of yoga is rooted in the principle of "ahimsa" (non-violence). The great yoga masters teach that "The yogi believes that every creature has as much right to live as he has. He believes he is born to help others and he looks upon creation with the eyes of love." The yogi knows that his life is linked inextricably with other living things. A complete, holistic yoga practice encompasses a way of life that addresses the harm we inflict on animals. If you love animals and want to do your share to ease their suffering, please read SLAUGHTERHOUSE and purchase extra copies for your friends. To me, Gail A. Eisnitz is a modern day heroine who embodies the qualities of a compassionate yogini. I applaud and support her work with all my heart and soul and cannot recommend her book too highly. Suza Francina R.Y.T., author, The New Yoga for People Over 50 and Yoga and the Wisdom of Menopause.
Former mayor, Ojai, California.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond Animal Rights
Review: This book goes beyond (perhaps even ignores) the issue of whether it is morally justified to eat animals. This book is well-written with its interesting anectodal stories of the lives of the folks working in corporate slaughterhouses and how they are affected by their daily "grind". Can the US government regulate industry effectively? This is perhaps the most interesting question Eisnitz raises. A must read for those wary of industry's influence on government bureaucracies.
Rating:
Summary: Uncovering the Truth
Review: I just finished reading Slaughterhouse and I thought it was so wonderful. I mean, it was so depressing and I almost cried a few times, because all the events mentioned in the book are SO SHOCKING. I've been a vegetarian all my life and have grown up absolutely loving animals. Recently, due to research, I've decided to go vegan. I always knew what happened in slaughterhouses were very horrible. But I NEVER even IMAGED it is as bad as it is! When I read that most of the animals are skinned alive I was so shocked. I couldn't believe it. But as I read through the book I realized how it all must be true. It was all horrible, like something you see in a nightmare, if not worse. But it's all real. By the time I was done reading it, the book had made my beliefs so much stronger. This book showed me MORE reasons why I am and should be vegan. Throughout reading the book every sentence was a new fact to me, I was telling everyone what really happens. They were pretty shocked too. The things that happen to animals in slaughterhouses are so inhumane. I cannot picture don't that to ANY animals, EVER. No animal deserves the treatment that a farm animal gets. The whole process of a slaughterhouse is wrong. Not only do they kill animals to eat them, but most of those animals suffer and are tortured their WHOLE lives. Once they reach the slaughterhouse they are dragged, beaten, cut and skinned. Most of them face all these things alive. Most of the time the animals who are dragged die, due to being strangled. They have chains put around their necks and they are dragged into the slaughterhouse when they won't go. This book is probably one of the BEST books I have EVER read. It is very depressing, but it is filled with facts that EVERYONE should know. I would recommend this book to ANYONE. Wether you eat meat or not this is a WONDERFUL book to read. I am very glad I read it because it changed how I look at life and how I look at meat-eating. I look at slaughterhouses in a different way. Before I just thought that the animals were killed, which I always knew was bad. But know I know how this animals are tortured from birth until death. I really have to thank Gail Eisnitz, she has made my beliefs about being vegan SO much stronger. I know so many more facts about slaughterhouses now, thanks to this book. This was an awesome book, I really REALLY loved it. Because of it I am a better activist as well as a better person.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the faint of heart
Review: The abuse and unbelievable cruelty toward animals as described in this book are so disturbing that they would make even those with the strongest constitutions physically ill. I could not finish this book. The author herself suffered from acute stress while doing the research.
Ms. Eisnitz traveled the country, tape recorder in hand interviewing slaughterhouse employees in their homes, coffee shops and even in jail. She allows the words of these people to speak for themselves. She interviewed many families who had children exposed to E. coli 0157:H7 after eating tainted beef. She visited auction houses where slaughter-bound horses were sold. And much more.
She discovered shocking things. For example, a quarter of a billion male chicks - considered valueless because they cannot lay eggs - are intentionally ground up ALIVE or smothered EACH YEAR. That's a quarter of a BILLION!
And where is the USDA in all of this? Missing in action. And the media? Interested, but not willing to upset their viewers by exposing them to the gritty truth.
I applaud Ms. Eisnitz for having the courage and stamina to write a difficult book like this. What she has exposed is nothing short of crimes against nature.
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