I should’ve eaten my ham sandwich before picking up
Karen Dawn’s “Thanking the Monkey:
Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals.” After reading
her description of how the deli meat got to my Tupperware
container, I put off lunch until late in the afternoon. But
I was so hungry I had to eat the sandwich at some point. With
each bite into the ham, I heard the shrieking of pigs in my
head. When will the pigs stop screaming, Karen Dawn? When?
When the world converts to vegetarianism, she writes in the
book. This will happen eventually. She’s not militant
about this point. She’s logical. She’s levelheaded.
She’s funny. That’s why her message is so . . . darn . . .
persuasive...
“Thanking the Monkey” is a glossy, nearly 400-page,
eminently readable book that’s not just about forgoing
meat; it’s about fur and animal testing and the merits
of hunting and fishing and the badness of pet stores, circuses
and the Navy sonar systems that make the ears of gray whales
bleed. It celebrates the progress of the animal rights movement.
It provides sensible rationales for treating animals with
near-absolute equality. It criticizes
the National Wildlife Federation (for protecting hunting interests),
the organic food fad (“organic” doesn’t necessarily mean
animals have been treated well) and Jack Hanna
(for supporting dove hunting and glossing over problems in
horse racing).
Jack Hanna, for crying out loud. The woman’s got some
nerve...
As
Karen Dawn celebrates her new book, “Thanking the Monkey:
Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals” and gears up to receive the Outstanding Activist for Farm Animals Award at our May
2008 Gala for Farm Animals, we caught up with her to chat
briefly about the book, her connection with Farm Sanctuary
and, of course, vegan fashion!
Karen is being honored with the outstanding activist award
at the Farm Sanctuary Gala on May 18. For more information,
please visit Farm
Sanctuary - www.farmsanctuary.org.
Veg News Magazine - Party Animal
The following article is printed in the April 2008 of Veg News
Magazine. To learn more about that fun magazine, and subscribe,
go to www.VegNews.com.
STARRED REVIEW: Thanking
the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals
Karen Dawn. Harper, $19.95 paper (304p) ISBN 978-0-06-135185-3
Animal rights activist Dawn is familiar to readers of her
memorable opinion pieces for the Washington Post as well as
her daily e-newsletter DawnWatch, but her first book should
gain her a wider audience. This is a cogent and thoroughly
researched overview of all the major issues in animal rights,
past and present, She defines animal rights “more loosely
than some would like,” focusing on the general movement
to advance the interest of animals and “discourage the
use of animals as objects of commerce.” Her goal is
“to tell you everything you wanted to know about animal
rights—but were afraid to get into a fight about—and
to let you weigh that information against your own values,”
and she succeeds admirably. Often supplying hilarious but
pointed illustrations and quotes from well-known animal lovers
such as Bill Maher and Natalie Portman, she illuminates the
use of animals as pets, entertainment, food, in scientific
testing and the “Green” movement. This has the
potential to become a big hit for a general reading audience
that wants to know what the fuss is about animal rights, as
well as the many college students at the forefront of animal
rights activism.
Library Journal Reviews -
January 15, 2008
BYLINE: Melody Ballard
SECTION: REVIEWS; Science and Technology; Pg. 128
Los Angeles-based animal-rights activist Dawn's opinion pieces
have been published in the Washington Post and the Los Angeles
Times; she is presently the author of the daily e-newsletter
DawnWatch (www.DawnWatch.com ). Sensitive and informative,
her first book, while encompassing all aspects of animal rights,
focuses on animal exploitation. Dawn's view is not only uniquely
free of overt sensationalism but factual. She covers cultural
differences, historical practices, and a balance of divergent
views on the ways animals are raised and used. Sections include
"Slaves to Love-Pets," "All the World's a Cage-Animal
Entertainment," "Zoos-It's No Jungle in There,"
"Fashion Victims," "Deconstructing Dinner,"
and "Animal Anonymous-On Animal Testing." Dawn manages,
despite the seriousness of the subject matter, to intersperse
bits of humor throughout, primarily through cartoons. A riveting
text you'll be sure to want to read; highly recommended for
public libraries and other libraries with collections focusing
on animal rights.-Melody Ballard, Pima Cty. P.L., Tucson,
AZ
Booklist
BYLINE: Nancy Bent
A fun book about the animal-rights movement? Dawn, an activist
and author (online and print), has produced an easily digested,
sound-bite-laden primer to all sides and gradations of the
crusade for animal rights. In short, easy sections, Dawn works
through all of the arenas in which animals are used or exploited
as well as the differences in philosophy within the movement
itself. She covers essential topics, such as the owning of
pets (in the chapter “Slaves to Love”), and doesn’t
stop with the more numerous dogs and cats but also questions
keeping birds, fish, and reptiles in cages. She also acknowledges
the positive sides of pet keeping, using the abandonment of
pets by aid workers and the consequent stress on their owners
as an example. The author takes a similarly nuanced look at
zoos and circuses, the fashion industry, animals as food,
and animal testing, finishing with a look at the similarities
and differences between
environmentalists and animal activists with examples of animal
activism in action. Well illustrated with numerous drawings
and cartoons. An excellent introduction.
Isthmus Daily Page SECTION: ESSAY, January 2009
The other day I was telling a friend, a fellow journalist,
about Karen Dawn’s 2008 book, Thanking the Monkey. My
friend has a deep sense of personal as well as social morality,
an encompassing sense of curiosity and an active sense of
humor. I felt sure he’d like
it.
But as soon as I said it’s a treatise on animal rights,
he rolled his eyes and mentally
erased it from his to-read list. He needed only one sense
— common — to grasp the
truth: Oh, those people. Yes, Karen Dawn is one of those people:
a vegan and an animal rights activist. A transplant from Australia
who now lives in New York and Los Angeles (“I’m
bicoastal, baby”), Dawn is the founder of the e-newsletter/website
DawnWatch, which tracks animal issues in the media. She’s
snagged book blurbs from folks like Bill Maher and David Duchovny,
and testimonials from dozens of other celebs. She’s
the animal rights activist to the stars.
Thanking the Monkey, subtitled “Rethinking the Way
We Treat Animals,” is an eye-opening dissection (pardon
the pun) of the astounding varieties of abuse inflicted by
humans on other species. The book is comprehensive and well
researched, heavily footnoted and corroborated by authoritative
sources. But it deals with things most people prefer to look
at with eyes wide shut...
Best Friends Magazine - Dawning Awareness. Animal
rights for a new generation.
The following interview is printed in the March/April issue
of Best Friends magazine. Learn more about that wonderful
organization, which took in and is transforming the Vick dogs
who were tagged "unadoptable" at www.BestFriends.org.
As
Karen Dawn celebrates her new book, “Thanking the Monkey:
Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals” and gears up to receive the Outstanding Activist for Farm Animals Award at our May
2008 Gala for Farm Animals, we caught up with her to chat
briefly about the book, her connection with Farm Sanctuary
and, of course, vegan fashion!
