Both concerns and proposed solutions changed considerably in the course of Ruth Harrison’s life. While the influence of her vegetarian par-ents and Quaker beliefs loomed large over Harrison’s own campaigning, the decades after 1945 saw many older forms of civic activism and think-ing about animals’ place in society change. Economically and intellectu-ally, pre-war welfare arrange…
In winter 2015, a door unexpectedly opened on a group of pigs. Where a moment before the room had been filled with the sound of grunts, squeals, and squeaks, the author and his wife were greeted by an expectant silence as sixty healthy-looking pigs turned toward the door, sat down on their behinds—and coughed. The surprisingly human sound of sixty coughing pigs has stayed with us to this day.…