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Summary: Most Important Book I've Ever Read
Review: Mathew Scully is not an author I would have ever sought to read. Conservative, Republican, former speech writer for Bush. Yet, he's written the most important book I've ever read. It is NOT easy reading. It's scholarly, and it's graphic. I do not go out of my way to read about the dark side of humanity. But he's a good enough writer to help me face the information - albiet only a few paragraphs or pages at a time.For anyone actually interested in facing the ultimate in our warped view of "rights and responsibilities" toward the earth and other living beings - this book is a must read. It will definitely make you angry, and it will make you think. And hopefully, it will make you more compassionate toward the other creatures with whom we share the earth.
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Summary: Dominion is a ground-breaking book...
Review: ...although it shouldn't have to be. We are struggling so slowly with any legal rights or protection law that Matthew Scully provides a very much needed "new perspective" -- a religious/spiritual one that lifts his writing like a fancy bright colored kite dancing in the wind. If this approach doesn't win some new supporters (hopefully more of those conservatives!), then I don't know what will. Some of the chapters read like journalistic reports or magazine articles, which I like. Sections on factory farms or game preserve hunts can stand by themselves and have plenty of good information without "torturing you to death." One reason I've never gotten into this literature is precisely because I don't want to be exposed to that. I'd rather not look period. Scully's achievement is that he exposes it to you enough that you can't look away anymore. Fine job. My only criticism is that occasionally hthe author drags out his arguments a little bit thus the length of his book may keep some from reading it all, as it truly deserves. I'd say Matthew Scully has a career as a writer as long as he continues to find similar projects to arouse his passion.
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Summary: compartmentalizing
Review: I'm am a die hard vegan and animal rights activist, and much of what Scully has to say is right on target. However, I can't fully respect the words of a man who so loyaly serves evil bureaucrats like Bush jr and Cheney. Clearly he is very mixed up in his beliefs, or is compartmentalizing the issues in his book, and the rest of his life. Animal rights, racisim, a free market system, poverty, all these issues are conneceted, clearly he doesnt believe so. It's about turing life into a product, a commodity; wether it be human, animal or the earth herself. This man is trying to confuse people who really care. Get truly informed about EVERYTHING and then you'll see why this book is nothing more than compassionate conservatism.
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Summary: Animal Protection From a New Perspective
Review: I found Dominion to be the best book written about animals, and our interactions with animals. Scully avoids rhetoric about rights and liberation and instead highlights the cruelty so inherent in hunting, meat production, fur production, etc. and calls on us to show mercy. He calls for mercy not because of animal rights, but because it is simply the decent thing to do. Scully has such a witty style. He uses a powerful writing style to dismantle arguments frequently raised against animal protection and leaves the reader sometimes laughing as his wit shoots down some silly argument, crying as he details the suffering of animals in factory farms, and angry that little is being done to rectify these problems. I bought a book for myself, then went and bought one for each parent. I had the opportunity to meet the author recently and I can say Matthew Scully is a great man who deserves to be heard.
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Summary: A Must Read
Review: Anyone who has ever loved an animal must read this book. One of the most compelling and well written books I have ever read.
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Summary: Heart breaker
Review: This book is a heart breaker but in a liberating way. Mathew Scully, thank you for your courage and fearlessness but very importantly thank you for your eloquence. Knowing something of your background as a senior speach writer for President Bush, it is quite impressive that you have bravely followed your heart and worked so hard to write a book that exposes the common- place cruelty and violence leveled against non-human animals daily in our society. In argueing for the rights for animals many animal rights activists focus on human health or the how a vegetarian diet will help the environment. These are good focuses. But Scully has appealed to our consciousness and morality. He himself has come to his conclusions that animals should not be treated as garbage because he has dared to challange his own callousness and vowed to feel from his heart. He has gone deeply into the depth of his own heart which is really the greater heart that we all share, but because of social conditioning most of us have become estranged from. Thank you Mathew Scully, for sharing the opening of your own heart with all of us, may we be the better for it and may we be inspired to extend our innate kindness to ALL others. May the lives of many animals be inmproved due to your efforts. This book is groundbreaking and life changing.
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Summary: Highest possible recommendation.
Review: Arguably the best animal advocacy book I've read - and I've read most of them. Highest possible recommendation.
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Summary: Conservative Republican Christians care about animals too!
Review: For too long some Christians have used God's granting man "dominion" over animals as a justification for all matter of ungodlike abuse. Matthew Sculley takes a rational and thoughtful look at what dominion means from a Christian and biblical perspective. He clearly shows that current state of animal affairs has taken a horrible turn that is clearly incompatible with Christian ideals. The ethical debate over our obligations to our fellow animals has been largely dominated by philosophers who reject Christianity. Mr. Sculley fills the gap by providing a voice for the silent majority who believe animals have one right: the right to our mercy. We would do well to remember that in the Hebrew of the old testament, God also granted King David dominion over the Jews. I suppose we should be grateful that David did not interpet this charge to stewardship as carte blanche to use his subjects for food, clothing and trophy hunting. Thanks Mr. Sculley! Jean Greek, co author of Specious Science and Sacred Cows and Golden Geese.
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Summary: Pretty good book marred by a narrow Christian perspective.
Review: Let me tell you my beef up front. I read the NY Times review of this book, and it sounded interesting. I bought the book, thinking it would be a broad treatment of its subject. It's not. It's a very explicitly and, at times, tediously Christian exploration of the subject. That's well and good for people who want to read something from that perspective, but they really ought to tell you that's what you are getting when you buy this book. They don't. That's not what I wanted when I bought this. My reading time is at a premium, and this book simply spends alot of time getting into things I am not interested in readin about. The author takes time to treat Biblical text, but he treats it as fact. He appears to view our dominion over animals as something actually given to us by God, like it says in Genesis, where "Dominion is first entrusted to mankind." Maybe I'm the one who's out of step here, but I'd say that's a mighty big assumption to be making in your premise. There's also stuff like an exchange taken from a Christian rodeo website where people talk about reading psalms to their dying dogs and arguing with their ministers about whether they'll see their dogs in heaven, and the biblical basis for such a belief. The author finds this exchange "beautiful." I find it weird and creepy. If you can get past this stuff, there's lots of information about the way absolultely horrific ways in which people mistreat animals. It doesn't make for easy reading, but it is important to read it. The book deserves attention for the great amount of work Mr. Scully has put into his research. He obviously writes well, too. I wish he had focused on field research rather than on philosophizing. Or written two books. And that his publisher had been a bit more forthcoming on the book's cover. My low rating is based primarily on the disappointment of my rather high expectations. But for the problems I raise in this review, I probably would have rated this a four star book.
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Summary: Great Read
Review: This is a great book. Not only is it well writen, it also has substance. It is a must have for anyone who is interested in animal rights. Anyone interested in how religion effects political/social issues would also be interested in this book. Even those who believe animals are only here to serve humans (an opinion too many people seem to hold) would get something out of this book. It really sticks with you, giving you things to think about. The arguements are well thought out, without being too dry.
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