Empty Cages: Facing the Challenge of Animal Rights

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 exposZ of animal abuse makes an essential and lasting contribution that will significantly impact the history of animal rights advocacy in America.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 PROLOGUE: The Cat Part 2 PART I NORMAN ROCKWELL AMERICANS Chapter 3 Who Are You Animal Rights Advocates Anyway? Chapter 4 How Did You Get That Way? Part 5 PART II MORAL RIGHTS: WHAT THEY ARE AND WHY THEY MATTER Chapter 6 Human Rights Chapter 7 Animal Rights Part 8 PART III SAYING AND DOING Chapter 9 What We Learn from Alice Part 10 PART IV THE METAMORPHOSES Chapter 11 Turning Animals into Food Chapter 12 Turning Animals into Clothes Chapter 13 Turning Animals into Performers Chapter 14 Turning Animals into Competitors Chapter 15 Turning Animals into Tools Part 16 PART VMANY HANDS ON MANY OARS Chapter 17 "Yes . . . but . . ." Chapter 18 EPILOGUEThe Cat

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).

Review :
Every veterinarian should read Tom Regan's Empty Cages, and every student of veterinary medicine should be required to read it. This book is important to the future integrity of our profession." Empty Cages will do for the animal rights movement what Silent Spring did for the environmental movement. If you are only going to read one book about animal rights, this is the one to read. 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. The book you are holding in your hands is, in my estimation, the single best introduction to the topic of animal rights ever written. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Tom Regan is a brilliant visionary. His new book, Empty Cages, debunks myths and exposes unscrupulous practices hidden from public view. People who are willing to 'question authority' need to read this original, illuminating, and thorough examination of the case for animal rights. This is the book that will inspire the next wave of animal rights activism. And the next wave after that one. Empty Cages is among the most important books ever written on the great subject of how we humans treat and relate to animals. A rare and special book that can help us to awaken to our humanity. [This book] is an invaluable introduction to a critical re-examination of our relationship to animals. It deserves to be widely read. Empty Cages' greatest contribution is the frank assessment of the current state of the movement and the blueprint for 'Moving Forward.' . . . Empty Cages was also an enjoyable read. Of value to everyone. Empty Cages is an excellent introduction for newcomers to the world of animal rights. This book is persuasive.