Reading this book was very weird for me. It was almost like Marcus had been sitting in on years of discussions inside my animal rights group, Compassionate Acton for Animals about how best to pursue animal rights, and then documented it in this book.

It's not 100% exactly the same as everything we've talked about, and there's lots of bits that we didn't talk about, but it's remarkably close.

One of Marcus's main points is that the AR movement should focus primarily on animal cruelty in factory farming. This is where the vast majority (99% or so) of animals are used, and the cruelties here are apparent even to people who don't think animals have any rights. Focusing on health or environmental arguments is simply a distraction from this.

This also speaks to the fact that we can get some wins for animals by working with people who are still eating meat. Many people who will not give up meat would probably be opposed to castration of animals without anesthetic, and if we can get them to do something about it, it's a win.

He also talks about the need for accuracy in the information we present. A big "right on" there. If I read one more AR pamphlet saying 5200 gallons of water go into one pound of beef, I'll puke. We cannot simply quote things as "fact" because we like what they say.

Another topic covered in the book is the importance of focusing on outreach and getting people to become vegan and actively oppose factory farming as activists. Again, that's something we've stressed at CAA for many years.

One thing I would have liked to see more of was how to get people to stay involved in activism. It seems from my experience that many people get involved for a few years and then leave. He doesn't spend much time on the issue of keeping them active, which is something we've tried to address (I think with some success) at CAA. This is a really tough thing to figure out, though, and I think there's lots we can do to improve our "retention rate" for volunteers, both as a group and as a movement.

One particular section that struck me was in the chapter on "Personal Activism", about the importance of starting off with dabbling. This really struck a chord with me, as my first activism was basically dabbling.

He also talks about the importance of stepping back and considering what we've been doing, both personally and as a movement. This kind of reflection is very important. It's important to act, but it's also important to consider what we've done so far, and how to improve our activism. It seems to me that this kind of reflection is important in any enterprise, not just activism.

Overall, I think this is an excellent book, and should be read by anyone who is involved with animal rights. The first half of the book is basically an argument as to why people should oppose factory farming, and I think it would be an effective way to sway people's opinion, though I still think even shorter materials like Vegan Outreach's Even If You Like Meat ... and Why Vegan? leaflets will be more effective for initial contact with most people, because of a combination of shorter length and graphic pictures. This book would be a great first AR book for anyone interested in the topic, however.

Note: I haven't yet read the appendices of the book, which make up about half its length. Part of the appendices are short essays by various authors on different approaches to activism, and then there's some parts by Marcus on health, the environment, and other areas of animal exploitation like hunting and animal testing. This all looks worth reading, but isn't really core to the book.