The Historical Animal - by Susan Nance (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The conventional history of animals could be more accurately described as
the history of human ideas about animals. Only in the last few decades have
scholars from a wide variety of disciplines attempted to document the lives of
historical animals in ways that recognize their agency as sentient beings with
complex intelligence. This collection advances the field further, inviting us to
examine our recorded history through an animal-centric lens to discover how
animals have altered the course of our collective past.
The seventeen scholars gathered here present case studies from the Pacific
Ocean, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, involving species ranging from gorillas
and horses to salamanders and orcas. Together they seek out new methodologies,
questions, and stories that challenge accepted historical assumptions
and structures. Drawing upon environmental, social, and political history, the
contributors employ research from such wide-ranging fields as philosophy and
veterinary medicine, embracing a radical interdisciplinarity that is crucial to
understanding our nonhuman past.
Grounded in the knowledge that there has never been a purely human time
in world history, this collection asks and answers an incredibly urgent question
for historians and others interested in the nonhuman past: in an age of mass
extinctions, mass animal captivity, and climate change, when we know much
of what animals have done in the past, which of our activities will we want to
change in the future?

Review Quotes

The Historical Animal, well produced with clear bibliography and helpful endnotes, is a
useful addition to the growing materials in Animal Studies relating to history. This should prove
to be an important book for those well versed in the study of animals' pasts, as well as those
new to the field. It certainly deserves to be in university libraries and on reading lists for both
History and Animal Studies courses.

--Hilda Kean, Visiting Professor of History, University of Greenwich, London "Anthrozoös Journal"

Featuring original work by scholars based in North America, Europe, and Africa, The Historical Animal examines each of these world regions, as well as Latin America....Wildlife, animal performers, and work animals dominate the collection, with meat animals and companion animals playing supporting roles....To the credit of the essay authors and Nance alike, the essays remain approachable to general readers even as they demonstrate the growing scholarly significance of animal history.--Thomas G. Andrews "H-Environment, H-Net Reviews"

Representing a relatively new interdisciplinary subfield of history, this remarkable and diverse collection of 16 essays drawn from several continents and many periods covers an array of animal histories. From Appalachian salamanders facing a reshaping landscape to the way the scarred bodies of orcas reshaped a generation's thinking about how whales should be studied and perceived, the writings offer non-anthropocentric perspectives of how animals shape history in their own right and not merely as humanity's partners or as objects of interest or scorn. Although presented as history, this work would also find relevance in courses in philosophy and environmental science. The perspectives, while largely presented in analytical and unsentimental styles, still offer a poignant retrospective into the collective history of humanity and other animal species.--Z. B. Johnson, Lake Erie College "CHOICE"

Showing the power of taking animals seriously in historical scholarship, The Historical Animal should be consulted not only by practitioners of animal history but also any historian interested in learning more about this exciting new subfield.--Mark V. Barrow Jr., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University "Journal of Social History"

Coming at the non-human from multiple times, places, and
methodologies, The Historical Animal captures the vibrancy and
promise of history and animal studies. The collection spans the
globe and the centuries, bringing together essays on burros and
whales, zoos and city streets. Showing off the range and talent of
historians working on animals in the past from medieval England
to modern Chicago, The Historical Animal stands as the capstone
to a new and energetic school of inquiry.

--Jon T. Coleman, author of Vicious: Wolves and Men in America

One of the finest edited collections I
have encountered in animal history: fascinating,
readable, and accessible. It will
be appropriate to use with undergraduates
as well as graduate students.

--Ann N. Greene, Department of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania

About the Author

Susan Nance is an associate professor in the Department of History and an affiliated faculty
member at the Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare at the University of Guelph,
Ontario, Canada. She is the author of Entertaining Elephants: Animal Agency and the Business
of the American Circus.