Product Description

Suggest to the average leftist that animals should be part of broader liberation struggles and—once they stop laughing—you'll find yourself casually dismissed. With a focus on labor, property, and the life of commodities, Making a Killing contains key insights into the broad nature of domination, power, and hierarchy. It explores the intersections between human and animal oppressions in relation to the exploitative dynamics of capitalism. Combining nuts-and-bolts Marxist political economy, a pluralistic anarchist critique, as well as a searing assessment of the animal rights movement, Bob Torres challenges conventional anti-capitalist thinking and convincingly advocates for the abolition of animals in industry—and on the dinner plate.
Making A Killing is sure to spark wide debate in the animal rights and anarchist movements for years to come.

Table Of Contents:
I Taking Equality Seriously
II Chained Commodities
III Property, Violence, and the Roots of Oppression
IV Animal Rights and Wrongs
V You Cannot Buy the Revolution

Advance praise for Making A Killing
"Bob Torres' Making a Killing draws a very straight line between capitalism and the oppressive system of animal agribusiness. Drawing from social anarchist theory, Torres provides a convincing argument that in order to fight animal exploitation, we must also fight capitalism and, in doing so, animal rights activists will need to reconsider their methods and redirect their focus. While his critiques of the animal rights movements' large organizations may not earn him friends in high places, such considerations are crucial to keeping the movement on track and for preventing stagnation.
Making a Killing is an important work from a new voice in animal advocacy that will surely spark heated discussions amongst activists from all corners of the movement."—Ryan MacMichael, vegblog.org

"In Making A Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights, Bob Torres takes an important and timely look at the animal rights movement, calling for a synthetic approach to all oppression, human and animal. His analytical framework draws together Marxism, social anarchist theory, and an abolitionist approach to animal rights to provide a timely social analysis that will no doubt have profound effects on the animal rights movement literature."—Gary L. Francione
Distinguished Professor of Law, Rutgers University

"Bob Torres's socioeconomic analysis of nonhuman animal use is a welcome and important addition to the understanding of human-nonhuman relations at the beginning of the 21st century. In particular, Making a Killing, makes vital a contribution to understanding the role of the property status of animals and the continuing strength of various welfarist positions on the ethics—and indeed the economics—of the human utilisation of other animals. Making a Killing will become required reading for social scientists and others interested in modern social movements and the socioeconomic forces that shape their activities and their claims-making."—Dr. Roger Yates, Lecturer in sociology at University College, Dublin, Republic of Ireland

"This is the book I've been waiting for. Making A Killing is a rare and powerful example of first-rate scholarship, a searing critique, and lively declaration of the rights of animals and humans. You will walk away from this book with a clear understanding as to why social justice movements for people must take animal rights seriously, and vice versa. Bob Torres has forever deepened my thinking about these relationships."—David Naguib Pellow, vegetarian, animal rights and anti-racist activist, and Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego; and author of Garbage Wars: The Struggle for Environmental Justice in Chicago and Resisting Global Toxics: Transnational Movements for Environmental Justice

Bob Torres is assistant professor of sociology at St. Lawrence University, received his PhD from Cornell, and is co-author of Vegan Freak: Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan World. His writings have appeared in Critical Sociology, The Journal of Latinos and Education, International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, and Satya magazine.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #159597 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 185 pages

About the Author
Bob Torres is assistant professor of sociology at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, USA, where he teaches courses on social theory, globalization, political economy, and animal rights. Coauthor of the vegan how-to guide, Vegan Freak: Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan World, Bob also publishes scholarly literature on topics around globalization, food, and the social implications of technology.

Customer Reviews

Mind Expanding Revelations for a Revolution
As committed as I thought I was to the animal rights movement and specifically veganism, I learned much about the how's and why's of the current trends and how to improve the outlook for all the world's sentient beings, indeed, Gaia herself from reading Bob Torre's wonderfully insightful book.

Torres helped me clarify my position and provided me with cogent reasoning to offer up when facing opposition. Torres provided me with support and confirmed that I and my fellow revolutionaries have what it takes to make it happen, to get to the point where animals are no longer viewed as something separate from us, a commodity we have no right to use for our greedy and avaricious ends, all written in language that gets to the root of the situation.

I walk away with "the revolution will not be televised. You cannot buy the revolution" but you can buy Making a Killing and get the revolution started......

Vegan Economics
This book sensationalizes a vegan lifestyle. He writes this book to justify his vegan lifestyle.

It's an armchair animal rights book. The author does not work actively with wildlife or with farm animals.

The author ignores what farmers do to protect their crops from wild life. The author ignores what farmers do to protect their crops against insects and disease.

The book suffers from a myopic view of animal rights.

Don't eat living animals or animal-by-products and be pro-animal regardless of the circumstances. This stance is all most cult-like, rather than useful to the typical person who has friends that consume meat. The extreme stances taken by the author makes this book a difficult read.

I would definitely not suggest this book to any of my friends. There are far better choices available that cover animals rights from folks actively engaged in helping out animals. Check out "Redemption" by Nathan Winogard. I can recommend that book to my friends who consume meat.

The author is making a killing selling these books -- making money off of the oppressed. Animals in this case. Maybe the author should re-read Marx and donate money from the sale of these books to animal right foundations. Or better yet. Maybe the author should get his hands dirty and actively help protect the animals he writes about.

Brilliant exposé on the animal industry & animal rights
Making A Killing is a comprehensive overview of the animal rights movement and how it relates to other liberation movements, including civil rights movements such as worker's rights and women's rights. Bob Torres clearly explains why animals must be included in a broader liberation movement, delivering startling insights into the reality of domination, power, and hierarchy across races, genders, and species. The smart analysis draws on Marxism, anarchism, and socioeconomic theory - this book is not a light read by any means! But there is no doubt that Making A Killing will have a far-reaching effect on animal rights in theory and practice. This book is a must-read for vegans and animal rights enthusiasts, and human rights advocates would do well to take notes from this astute social justice piece as well. The message is clear: compassion, freedom, and rights must be universal for any liberation movement to succeed.