编辑推荐
PRAISE FOR PETS IN AMERICA "[Grier] probe[s] not just our
changing notions about animals but our changing definition of a
good society . . . Very entertaining." (The New York Times Book
Review )"This work explores the history of animal-human bonding in
the context of a growing country with a diverse population . . . If
the well-written prose is not enough, the illustrations provide a
telling accent." (Bloomsbury Review )In an encyclopedic history,
Grier describes the changing cultural sensibilities that have
defined the experience of American pet owners from colonial times
to the present. Grier, an expert on material culture at the
Winterthur Museum (one of several museums that will display a
traveling exhibition of the same title), draws on diaries,
magazines, advice books, illustrations and photographs for this
serious book reflecting the author's interest in the symbolic and
metaphorical role pets play in our culture. Grier's definition of
"pet" is broad and includes domestic animals like urban horses as
well as chickens and pigs, which were routinely raised by children
on farms as quasi-pets. Although she is primarily interested in
human-animal relationships, Grier doesn't neglect the developing
commercial multibillion-dollar pet industry (Ralston Purina, Grier
relates, began as a livestock feed company, adding dog food only in
1926). Scholarly, thorough, informative and animal friendly as the
book is, Grier would have made many readers even happier had she
occasionally eschewed seriousness in favor of the rich satirical
grounds the excesses of pet-ownership provide. B&W photos.
(Publishers Weekly )
内容简介
When did America become so obsessed with its pets? It wasnt as
recently as you might think. In fact, as Katherine C. Grier shows
us in this lively social history, Americans have a long and abiding
fascination with their furry, feathery, and sometimes scaly
friends. Pets in America is the first comprehensive, thoroughly
entertaining account of our long history of animal keeping. From
White House gerbils to Mrs. Ralph Waldo Emersons many cats, from
drug-sniffing dogs to celebrity horses, from pet food to training
to birdcages to art to cemeteriesno aspect of pet culture is left
unexplored. Peppered with the warmth and humor of anecdotes from
period diaries, letters, catalogs, and newspapers, Pets in America
is also packed with more than one hundred whimsical pieces of pet
Americanaillustrations and photographs of all of mans best friends.
Pets in America is fun social history for a popular audience and
pet lovers everywhere.
作者简介
KATHERINE C. GRIER is a professor of material culture studies
and director of research programs at the Winterthur Museum and a
visiting professor of history at the University of Delaware. She
lives in Wilmington, Delaware, and Onancock, Virginia, with her
husband, two cats, and two dogs.