This open access book is the biography of one of Britain's foremost
animal welfare campaigners and of the world of activism, science, and
politics she inhabited. In 1964, Ruth Harrison's bestseller Animal
Machines triggered a gear change in modern animal protection by
popularising the term 'factory farming' alongside a new way of thinking
about animal welfare. Here, historian Claas Kirchhelle explores
Harrison's avant-garde upbringing, Quakerism, and how animal welfare
debates were linked to concerns about the wider ethical and
environmental trajectories of post-war Britain. Breaking the myth of
Harrison as a one-hit wonder, Kirchhelle reconstructs Harrison's 46
years of campaigning and the rapid transformation of welfare politics
and science during this time. Exacerbated by Harrison's own actions, the
decades after 1964 saw a polarisation of animalpolitics, a
professionalisation of British activism, and the rise of a new animal
welfare science. Harrison's belief in incremental reform allowed her to
form ties to leading scientists but alienated her from more radical
campaigners. Many of her 1964 demands gradually became part of
mainstream politics. However, farm animal welfare's increasing
marketisation has also led to a relative divorce from the wider agenda
of social improvement that Harrison once bore witness to. This is the
first book to cast light on the interlinked histories of British farm
animal welfare activism, science, and legislation. Its unique scope
allows it to go beyond existing accounts of modern British animal
welfare and will be of interest to those interested in animal welfare,
environmentalism, and the behavioural sciences.
