Episode 105: Bill Wasik - The History of the Animal Rights Movement

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Bill Wasik is the editorial director for the New York Times Magazine and the author of a variety of books, including his newest - co-written with his wife Monica Murphy - Our Kindred Creatures: How Americans Came to Feel the Way They Do About Animals. During our conversation, Bill talks about the dawn of the animal rights movement in post-Civil War America, the lives and work of Henry Bergh and George Angell, and the creation and mission of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals.

Bill also talks about the industrialization of meat production, the invisibility of animal suffering today, and his own lifestyle related to animal rights.

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00:00 Intro

00:37 How Americans treated animals in the mid-19th century

03:54 Animal blood sport in the 19th century

07:28 Religious and philosophical outlooks on animals in the 19th century

12:25 Who was Henry Burgh?

16:16 The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

22:22 The legal power of the ASPCA 28:21 Who was George Angell?

33:10 The goal: reduce suffering, not eliminate meat consumption

38:55 Industrializing meat production, and the invisibility of animals today

47:20 How this book has influenced Bill and his lifestyle