Tag: Henry Bergh

Review of “A Traitor to His Species: Henry Bergh and the Birth of the Animal Rights Movement”

Corey Wrenn, PhDLeave a comment

Source: ASPCA

By Affiliate Member, Bouchara Bejaoui

A Traitor to His Species: Henry Bergh and the Birth of the Animal Rights Movement is one of the few historical books that describes the conditions and position of animals in the post-Civil War period in the United States (1861-1865). This book by Freeberg, a historian at the University of Tennessee, is a biography of Henry Bergh, founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in New York in 1866, during the Gilded Age of America. What makes this book so special is that it immerses us in the daily lives of both humans and animals during this period, detailing decades of animal abuse, suffering, and neglect. Freeberg also explains why and how the first animal rights organization came into being.

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