Between Light and Storm
How We Live With Other Species
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Granta Books
Published:3rd Sep '20
£20.00
Available for immediate dispatch.
A landmark new book about the fraught relationship between humans and animals that takes us from Genesis to climate change
Beginning with the very origins of life on Earth, Woolfson considers pre-historic human-animal interaction and traces the millennia-long evolution of conceptions of the soul and conscience in relation to the animal kingdom, and the consequences of our belief in human superiority. She explores our representation of animals in art, our consumption of them for food, our experiments on them for science, and our willingness to slaughter them for sport and fashion, as well as examining concepts of love and ownership. Drawing on philosophy and theology, art and history, as well as her own experience of living with animals and coming to know, love and respect them as individuals, Woolfson examines some of the most complex ethical issues surrounding our treatment of animals and argues passionately and persuasively for a more humble, more humane, relationship with the creatures who share our world.
For all the talk of an "animal turn," discussions of animals have today become so filled with jargon and political rhetoric that the creatures themselves often seem reduced to little more than rhetorical tropes. Between Light and Storm by Esther Woolfson is a book that can put the animals back in Animal Studies. The discussions in it are not only beautifully written and rich in historical detail but also filtered through personal reflection and experience. I know of no better introduction to the study of human-animal relations -- Boria Sax, author of * Avian Illuminations: A Cultural History of Birds *
Genial, readable, warm-hearted and on nature's side -- Richard Mabey
Woolfson specialises in [...] demonstrating how little most people understand about creatures they think ordinary... her writing flows beautifully -- Diana Athill
A powerful, poignant, and urgently important reflection on our relations with the non-human world. Immaculately researched and compulsively readable -- Charles Foster, author of * Being a Beast *
We live in a time in which our disrespect for nature is coming back to bite us. Timely and wide-ranging, Esther Woolfson's book offers sensitive reflections on how we relate to the animals around us as well as the animal within -- Frans de Waal
Elegiac, haunting and piercingly intelligent, Esther Woolfson's exploration of our relationship with other species is sometimes painful to read but her articulacy and lightness of touch, and her own beautifully observed experiences, are a joy. A profoundly moving and important book -- Isabella Tree
This is nature writing in the foraging and fossicking mode, reminiscent of Kathleen Jamie and Barry Lopez. Woolfson ranges widely across disciplines and through time; discursive, informative and always ready to explore a promising byway. She draws on a dizzying array of sources * New Internationalist *
Between Light and Storm brings together a wealth of literature about humans and other animals... At every turn, Woolfson has an astute remark, whether from Tolstoy or JD Salinger * Financial Times *
Spellbinding... Read and be caught * New Statesman *
ISBN: 9781783782796
Dimensions: 234mm x 153mm x 22mm
Weight: 546g
368 pages