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    Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
    Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
    Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
    Audiobook19 hours

    Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy

    Written by Matthew Scully

    Narrated by Sean Runnette

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    In a crucial passage from the Old Testament, God grants mankind power over animals. But with this privilege comes the grave responsibility to respect life, to treat animals with simple dignity and compassion. Somewhere along the way, something has gone wrong.

    In Dominion, we witness the annual convention of Safari Club International, an organization whose wealthier members will pay up to $20,000 to hunt an elephant, a lion or another animal, either abroad or in American "safari ranches," where the animals are fenced in pens. We attend the annual International Whaling Commission conference, where the skewed politics of the whaling industry come to light, and the focus is on developing more lethal, but not more merciful, methods of harvesting "living marine resources." And we visit a gargantuan American "factory farm," where animals are treated as mere product and raised in conditions of mass confinement, bred for passivity and bulk, inseminated and fed with machines, and slaughtered in a way that maximizes profits and minimizes decency.

    The result is eye opening, painful and infuriating, insightful and rewarding. Dominion is a plea for human benevolence and mercy, a scathing attack on those who would dismiss animal activists as mere sentimentalists, and a demand for reform from the government down to the individual.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 4, 2019
    ISBN9781977348944
    Author

    Matthew Scully

    Matthew Scully served from January 2001 until June 2002 as special assistant and senior speechwriter to President George W. Bush. He worked in the president's 2000 campaign and has also written for vice presidents Dan Quayle and Dick Cheney, and for the late Pennsylvania governor Robert P. Casey. A former literary editor for the National Review, he has been published in various periodicals including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy. He lives with his wife, Emmanuelle, in northern Virginia.

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    Reviews for Dominion

    4.5/5

    72 ratings4 reviews

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    • 1/5
      I'll start by saying I had to read this for a class I was taking, and the professor had a horribly slanted view on this material. When I say slanted, imagine Rose & Jack trying to hold on to the Titanic as one end was going under. THAT kind of slanted. Ergo, my opinion of it is colored a great deal based on how she forced us to interpret it in class if we wanted to pass and the subsequent discussions that went along with it.

      If you're looking for some references on this particular topic, I guess you could say this would be a good reference for it, however I do not believe it gives both sides of the point a fair shake. It, much like my professor, is drastically slanted towards the side of the crazy vegans (I say crazy, referring to the ones trying to slam their point of view down your throat, NOT the ones who don't make a big stink about it unless people are giving them a hard time). Also, it does have a few religious references and arguments in it, so if I'd skip over those areas if your professor or whatever audience your research is being presented to isn't exactly open to the religious side of things.
    • 5/5
      This book convinced me to never again buy meat from a supermarket.
    • 5/5
      Scully, a vegetarian and former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, presents a Christian view of animal welfare in this powerful work. The argument centers on the biblical idea of dominion, that in Genesis humans were bestowed with power over animals and the earth. Rather than giving us unlimited power to harm and exploit animals, Scully argues that the Christian tradition directs us to treat them with reverence and mercy. He does not argue that animals have rights, but rather that humans have duties and obligations towards them and that in the current state of things these duties are being egregiously ignored and rejected. In heartbreaking detail he describes many of the areas of human activity where animals are being cruelly tortured and killed, including trophy hunting, whale hunting, factory farming, and scientific research. Humans are distinguished from other animals in that we can make moral choices. Scully appeals for our compassion, hoping that once readers learn of the cruelty towards animals in these industries that we will choose the moral high ground of kindness over killing. His book is a plea for mercy that concludes with suggestions for legislative reforms that would improve the condition of animals, though not rescuing them from subjugation. Throughout he discusses philosophical perspectives in the debate on animal rights, including a critique of the utilitarian philosophy of Peter Singer, and an endorsement of natural law as a basis for our moral standards. According to this understanding of natural law, human lives have a purpose based in reason and morality. It is clear that Matthew Scully has found his purpose, in urging us towards compassion in our treatment of our fellow animals.
    • 5/5
      I am in awe of this book. It is, without a doubt, the most powerful book I have ever read. I defy anyone to read it and not be changed by it. Amazing. Hard-hitting. Sensible. Rational. Painful. Hopeful. Infuriating. Spell-binding. Bascially, it's a book about the plight of animals under the domination of humans. The book begins with the verse from Genesis where God commands Adam to have 'dominion' over the creatures of the earth. Scully explains, throughout the book, just how appallingly we have abused that supposed command, often in the name of it being our God-given right to do so. That said, this is not a religious book, nor does the religious aspect of the title dominate the book's theme. I would wholly disagree that this book is aimed primarily at Christians. It's aimed at everyone.The book is so well put together, each chapter laid out in great detail and dealing with one issue separately from the rest. Scully's viewpoints and counter-arguments to the vile people who take delight in the abuse of our power over animals, or those who deny that animals, in fact, have any feeling (whether physical or emotional) whatsoever, are completely sensible, utterly rational, and far more realistic than that of those who oppose his views. He does not use sentimental language or radical terms. He is just absolutely genuine and makes perfect sense. I was repeatedly blown away, both by the awfulness of some of the things he describes and by the awesomeness of his ability to explain just why such things were awful in the first place.The world is a better place for this book. Matthew Scully deserves all the praise he can get for Dominion. Everybody should read this book. Go forth and find it. It will change your view of the world.