Ethics Into Action: Henry Spira and the Animal Rights Movement

By Peter Singer

Book Overview

Henry Spira is a lifelong activist and founder of the modern animal rights movement. Inspired by the thinking of Peter Singer in the early 1970s, Henry turned Singer's ethical lessons into action, launching campaigns against organisations whose practices caused unnecessary suffering to animas. He has taken on some of the most powerful companies in America, including Revlon, Avon, Perdue, and McDonald's with extraordinary success. His respectful, though forceful, dialogue with these opponents convinces them that they can change their procedures without losing face or profit. This inspiring story of Henry's life and his campaigns proposes that his remarkable successful method of action can be adopted by activists of all kinds.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0847690733
• ISBN13: 9780847690732
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Length: 222 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Amazing Book -- A must read for all activists!!

This book is truly amazing. It is a very exciting book to read, and the enthusiasm of Henry Spira can not help to rub off on your own life. Peter Singer has done an excellent job of giving the reader an easy to access look into the life of a man who inspired thousands of people to think more about all forms of suffering for all types of animals.Thank you for such an amazing book! It is a must read for anyone involved in activism. It shares a lifetime of wisdom. Enjoy!

A primer in effective (animal)activism

Being persuaded about animal rights for some time now, I have been looking for ideas on how to get active. This book provides lots of ideas and is an inspiring portrait of an attractive and committed person. It is also very readable - I read it early into the morning until I finished it.Spira's activism was highly intelligent, practical, strategic and committed to the long term - he is a hero of the animal rights movement.

A great book for anyone who wants to make a difference

This is a well written (as all of peter singers books are) book about the life of Henry. He accomplishes hiis goals because he never lets down. He shows us that the best way to make a change is to work with the people you are trying to change, not against them. This makes perfect sense but most of us do not practice it. Well done and worth a read especiially if you want to be an activist.

A must read for anyone who wants to fight an injustice.

Ethics Into Action is not only a book about Henry Spira's life and the animal rights movement, it is a detailed guide for fighting injustice. Spira, founder of Animal Rights International, is best known for his campaign to end animal testing in the cosmetics industry. His 1980 full page New York Times ad against Revlon's blinding of rabbits was the catalyst that created public outrage against animal testing and led to protests and over 20,000 letters and calls into the company's headquarters. Spira's efforts were responsible for the "cruelty-free" labeling found on many cosmetics today.In the mid-80s, Spira tackled farm animal issues and was responsible for stopping industry-wide ritual slaughter practices. Fully conscious cattle, weighing up to 2,000 pounds, were shackled, hoisted into the air, and hung upside down by one leg until they were slaughtered. Spira also abolished the USDA practice of branding Mexican cattle on the face. His powerful, full-page newspaper advertisements created such a public outcry that face branding was discontinued. By the 90's, his focus turned to major food producers and fast food chains such as McDonalds, Perdue and KFC. Not only did he fight for more humane treatment of animals who were oftentimes raised in such crowded conditions they could not turn around or stretch their legs, he fought for better conditions for underpaid factory workers.What many people might not realize is that Henry Spira lived his beliefs. Not only did he believe animals should be treated ethically, he believed his opponents should be treated with an ethical fairness missing in most activism today. He did not believe in pointing fingers or blaming corporations for the wrongs they inflicted on animals; he worked to find realistic solutions that benefited both sides. He convinced companies to fund their own research into finding alternatives to animal testing, and he pressured the government into changing its guidelines on product testing. This realistic and intelligent approach is the reason Spira was so successful. The author, Pete Singer, is an eminent philosopher who started the animal rights movement in the 70's with his best-selling book Animal Liberation. Spira was a pupil of Singer's in a 1974 ethics course, and the two eventually went on to found the International Coalition for Farm Animals.Unfortunately, Henry Spira recently passed away after a long bout with cancer. But he will live on in every person and animal who benefited from his work, and he will be remembered as a man who lived simply and knew the true meaning of success. Ethics Into Action details how Spira carried out each of his campaigns and gives each of us the blueprint to follow in his footsteps. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to right an injustice or wants to see exactly how one person can make a difference.

An important book on animal-human relations.

Peter Singer is the father of the animal rights movement. His relationship with Henry Spira is at the heart of this significant book.These two men have done more for animals than any other humans, and this is the story of how they did it. Spira is an inspirational human being who has devoted his life to liberating animals from bogus and cruel laboratory experiemnts. His style, his wit, and his insights are sprinkled throughout this readable biography. Ethics into Action is destined to be a classic. It's a must read for anyone who cares about animals.