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A review by daytonm
Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation by Sunaura Taylor
5.0
It's perhaps not surprising that this challenged and expanded my thinking on (dis)ability, something I haven't (yet!) read much about. But it did the same for my thinking on animals (human and nonhuman), illuminating under-covered aspects of their oppression and altering how I understand domestication and dependency. The book is essential reading for anyone interested in building a just society--in the animal or disability movements as well as the broader Left, which needs these ideas urgently.
The disability liberation 101 section toward the beginning was a little jargony, but otherwise it's highly readable. The critiques of Singer and Pollan are also among the best I've seen--she seems to actually understand Singer, and is thus better able to articulate where and how he falls short. It leaves certain key questions unanswered but at least acknowledges them, and critically engages with what makes a life valuable and worth living, a line of inquiry that ultimately brings us to a really radical place in both animal and disability studies.
The disability liberation 101 section toward the beginning was a little jargony, but otherwise it's highly readable. The critiques of Singer and Pollan are also among the best I've seen--she seems to actually understand Singer, and is thus better able to articulate where and how he falls short. It leaves certain key questions unanswered but at least acknowledges them, and critically engages with what makes a life valuable and worth living, a line of inquiry that ultimately brings us to a really radical place in both animal and disability studies.