meat-industry

Dale Peterson and Karl Ammann lay out the history of the commercial hunting of apes (and other species) that is driving chimps, gorillas, and bonobos rapidly towards extinction, and the direct link with the logging taking place within Central African forests. It's not surprising that logging companies don't give a hoot if our closest relatives are hunted to extinction, but what is shocking is Peterson's and Ammann's exposure of the inaction and lack of concern shown by major conservation groups, and the even more troubling partnerships between loggers and conservation groups that have enabled loggers to continue destroying the forests and the wildlife that live there. Anyone who cares about wildlife, great apes or otherwise, and donates to major conservation organizations must read this book before writing another check. Ammann, the photographer who has campaigned for nearly a decade to bring the bushmeat crisis to the world's attention, writes a compelling afterword, and provides disturbing photographs of murdered apes. My only complaints are that there were not more of Ammann's photographs included in the book, and that the indictments of major conservation groups were perhaps not scathing enough.

With its appealing cover-picture of two baby chimps and its appalling title, "Eating Apes" is a must read for everybody interested in conservation in general and the survival of the great apes in particular. Although I've been already aware of the bushmeat crisis through voluntary work at a zoo, this book hit me hard. The scope of denial by many - individuals and conservation groups alike - paired with risky relationships between NGOs and logging companies is driving our closest living relatives - the great apes - to extinction. Dale Peterson's book encompasses every aspect of this difficult and very complex issue and Karl Ammann's pictures and comments provide further evidence of what really is happening. Everbody who makes or is going to make decisions regarding the bushmeat trade, logging, development and conservation in central Africa has to read this book before making those important and far-reaching decisions. My next task will be to check with the various conservation groups I support, to find out what they are planning to do about this subject. Depending on their answers, I may well choose to cancel some memberships. Something I haven't actually thought about before reading this book - so I hope that many others will follow suit and choose action over complacency!

Sometime far in our past, humans took up rocks and sticks to hunt food instead of scavenging from other predators. With our meat available today in shrink-wrapped containers it's easy to lose sight of that long-standing tradition. Others in the world still obtain meat in the traditional environment. The difference is that instead of spears, the weapons are high-powered shotguns. Instead of skulking through the forest seeking prey, hunters are now given rides by timber carriers using deep-penetrating access roads. In this book, Dale Peterson reveals the transformations forest hunting has undergone in West African nations. It's not a
pleasing picture, but it's valid and it's important. And it must change.

The bushmeat trade has many implications, but Peterson has chosen three significant ones. One, of course, is that by killing chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas for food, we're consuming our nearest relations. The primate line divided only 12 million years ago, with the descendants of one line becoming today's mountain gorillas. The other line led to chimpanzees and bonobos with a spur turning off about 7 million years ago leading to you and me. The proximity of chimpanzee and human DNA patterns is no longer news, but the reminder needs to be flashed occasionally.

Another implication is health. With so much attention given to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, it's worth reflecting on its origins. More importantly, as Peterson reminds us, is to consider how it works. HIV/AIDS appears to be a recent evolutionary virus quirk. It adapts and evolves with amazing speed. The roots of it remain in the African forest and a new strain can emerge at any time. The best means of transmission from ape or monkey to human is through blood - that stuff the hunter is soaked in as he butchers his forest kill.

The third theme is the question of human relations with the rest of our environment. Human population growth is presented in a novel framework. How many humans come into existence every day is contrasted with the great ape population. Peterson calculates that the entire gorilla population is equalled by new humans every twelve hours. Population pressures in the "developed" world lead to demands for African timber products. In turn, the timber firms are cutting great swaths of forest using displaced populations for labour. To feed these workers, hunters are hired or loggers hunt and apes, due to their availability and size, become a major food source. In a feedback cycle of habitat reduction and hunting, the apes are simply being exterminated. Recovery would require sharply reduced logging. Peterson notes that trees are being taken that began growth in Michaelangelo's time, but their replacements will be cut in only forty years.

Peterson is effusive in his description of the significant role played by Swiss photographer Karl Ammann. Ammann's chance encounter with a logging truck driver revealed the role international logging firms play in the ape slaughter and the extended bushmeat trade. The logging firms, particularly CIB, contend they are providing "employment for locals, health services, food and education". Peterson explains the falsity of this contention, with "health services limited to a nurse and schools and teachers paid for by the workers' families.

Peterson argues that the long-established bushmeat tradition is already lost, displaced by commercial logging practices and new, mass hunting methods using guns, sometimes lent by government officials. If we can change a culture, such as was done with slavery, hunting traditions no longer tenable can be modified, as well. He cites the willingness of Americans to spend minimal annual funds to protect wolves, bears and other fauna. Why not establish a fund for ape protection. He calculates that US$1 billion per year could be raised with an individual contribution of but US$50. Not an enormous sum, given that other donations and military expenditures far exceed it. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

The Arlington VA reviewer has it right - This is a great book and it is really funny in places too! I loved the telephone chats that are written of.

I am sure any one who reads English will love this book...even if you never want to raise meat goats!

Gail Bowman is the sort of writer that most all authors could learn from. More important, Gail Bowman is obviously experienced in the craft she writes about and her love of the most cantankerous of farm critters shows through.

This is one of the few chatty how-to books that I have found did not waste even a page of type.

No matter the topic, it is apparent Ms Bowman has learned from experience and is unafraid to tell us her mistakes as well as her successes. But, she is not preachy and doesn't try to convince us there is only one way. She freely informs us of methods and techniques, and even other breeds, reported to her by other breeders.

I had long thought the best way to try and make a living with goats would be as a dairy, but, milking a hundred goats can be mighty tiring for a bare living. Thus, I was considering meat goats after downloading some introductory blurbs published by the Saskatchewan Ag folks.

I, however, remained skeptical of meat goats for profit. I was concerned I might be getting into a branch of agriculture for dreamers (the visionary sort, no disrespect meant) but, at age 50, I just don't feel the hankering to blaze any new trails. In other words, I want to let today's youth do the experimenting. I just want to earn money to sock away for my retirement.

Well, Ms Bowman has done a great job in showing me that meat goats are not the 21st Century equivalent of ostrich, emu, elk, deer and bison. They are a viable farm product that can produce a reasonable income without having to create a new market or without having to depend on other breeders for one's profit.

I nominate Raising Meat Goats For Profit as one of the Best How-To books for the 21st Century!

If I were still publishing farm magazines I would definitely be shouting the news to my readers. Raising Meat Goats For Profit is a masterpiece.

this is the first book you should buy if u own, boer or other meat goats, this one you cant put down, there is tons of knowledge in this book for anything you need to know while raising your goats, great job Gail Bowman!

If you like hamburgers and nostalgia like me, you will love the book Hamburger Heaven. I've literally spent hours flipping through this book. Sometimes I just look at the picture and other times I have read the whole book over. Who ever knew there was such a rich history behind the common hamburger?

This book is great for the coffee table too, and it has been the source of countless conversations with my friends who just happened to pick it up.

Hamburger Heaven is a delight. Five Stars isn't nearly enough to rate this eloquent, visually brilliant, ode to the nexus mundi of fast food gastranomies.

All aspects of Hamburger evolution are included here - the early, hotly-disputed origins of the beloved patty; the concomitant rise of the hamburger and the highway; the first real chains; the evolution of McDonald's, Burger King, and other current hamburger giants; and everything in between.

Moreover, the book is worth the price for the illustrations alone!

For anyone who appreciates the sheer nostalgia of burgers - the ads they spawned, the intimate connection between hamburgers and the ascendancy of the automobile and the simply delicious fusion of fast-food culinary genius, architectural treasures (in the form of early diners and drive-ins) and the thousand-and-one ways in which the almighty hamburger has changed our lives - this is THE historical record.

Read it with relish!

From it's inauspicious beginnings in the late 19th Century in America, this book follows the burger craze from it's supposed creation at the 1904 World's Fair through the present day.

You'll find out how the architecture of burger stands was both a reflection of and inspiration for the development of 20th Century American pop culture.

Every successful "hamburg" purveyor had its imitators, but the author shows how the rise of the "Big Boy" chain was an important predecessor of today's omnipresent McDonald's, Burger King's, Wendy's, et al.

The book is marinated with vintage photos, and concludes that America is still in love with the "slider" as evidenced by the Checkers chain's success.

If you're looking for a book on the history of the Wurlitzer adorned diners of the Art Deco era, this isn't the one. But this is a great book for people who want to know if there was life before Mickey D's two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

A fun and quick read that you'll love to share with children and grandchildren alike.

I have used this book extensively in my travels throughout the South. In fact, I have planned some of my trips so that I can sample the delicious food found at the country cafes recommended by the author. My only complaint would be that the author has not come forth with a second book; I have some nominees for him!

As is typical of his work, Don O'Briant has filled his latest book with humor, insight, creativity and accurate information. He's a well-known Atlanta journalist and has a reporter's discerning eye. But he's also a philosopher and a warm and sympathetic observer of the human condition. Gratefully, his restaurant reviews aren't like other people's. You feel like you're really there and can experience for yourself the people, smells and sights he describes. The inclusion of comments by notable Southernors is an original and effective device. You can tell that he is a down-to-earth (but incredibly observant) person who genuinely likes the places he went and the people he met. And, best of all, he's a great judge of food. Zagat, take notice! I recommend the book highly.

The author has done an outstanding job summarizing this controversial but very successful company.

As an Iowan who lived next door to Bob Peterson when he was managing the Fort Dodge plant, it is good to see the company he now leads get the accurate coverage it deserves.

Leaders who see opportunities and force changes upon industrial sectors or governments often times get criticized by those who don't want to change, yet without that leadership society would not be better off.

While IBP has not always been perfect in their approach to doing business, they have always been willing to adapt.

Anyone interested in the transformation of the american agricultural economy would be well served to read this exciting story. IBP has lead by example.

Skaggs's book is an excellent synthesis of the history of American meat production from earliest times to the present. Skaggs covers the early days, the rise of the trailing industry, the growth of big packing towns like Chicago and Kansas City, scandals like "embalmed beef" in the war with Spain and the "beef trust", and all the twists and turns that have led to the way things are produced today. Full of interesting facts and details, this book also tells the story of the lifecycle of an important American industry that still looms large in our imaginations. As Skaggs shows, however, imagination tends to run away from reality. For all you romantics out there, just remember that even at the height of the cattle trail days, most cattle were raised by farmers. (I bet you won't be seeing that coming out of Hollywood anytime soon.) I highly recommend reading this book in conjunction with Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle".

Jo Robinson is a great researcher and writer. The book easily explains why grassfed meat is better for you, and documents it very well. She shows the differnce between grain feed lots and natural grass fields. Great book if you care about the health of your family.

Ms.Eisnitz has convinved me that the principals that drive successful businesses are at work in our food supply to nefarious ends. While driving down costs and improving productivity may be laudable in the production of wigets, in the killing and "cleaning" of our meats, these ends are set to produce an epidemic of deadly pathogens and diseased foods. The recent mad cow scare has hopefully produced the publicity this book and others of its ilk have long sought. The USDA has proven to be impotent and having cattlemen assoc. leaders overseeing production is insanity.A very insightful read.

This is, quite simply, a fabulous book. As riveting as any fiction thriller, this book leads the reader through the real-life hells that comprise the slaughterhouses of America. Apart from documenting mind-numbing cruelty to animals, the book also highlights the effects of increased deregulation, including serious health and safety issues for workers and consumers. Read this book. .. Then recommend it to everyone you know.

This is a well written unemotional account of conditions and atrocities happening at several, if not all, slaughterhouses. Since USDA seems unable to conduct surprise inspections, one must assume that USDA is in cahoots with the meat industry, surprise surprise. The filthy conditions and working environment in the chicken slaughterhouse is unbelievable, but the information came from so many different sources I DO believe it. I was not a meat eater before reading this book, now I have earmarked pages to show to carnivorous friends when they come to my house. The filthy conditions alone are enough to turn anybody off eating meat, but add to that the incredible cruelty to the animals, specially those described at the hog slaughterhouse, makes one believe the workers at the plants have absolutely no feelings at all. This is so shameful and slaughterhouses should be investigated by somebody other than the USDA.

Parden the pun but where's the beef?
If Dr. Gajdusek was accused of child abuse, how does that relate to Mad Cow?
If Kuru affected some brain eaters before Mad Cow entered the world's vocabluary does that require a whole chapter?
If sheep drop dead from a relative of BSE who cares?
The authors buried the dangers of beef so deep in unrelated and unimportant information, an earth mover couldn't get to the point.
Most meat eaters will write this book off as pure science totally unrelated to everyday life.
Ironicly, those same meat eaters have the most to loose from a carnivore diet. While BSE is rare, there are a million other reasons to avoid meat not the least of which is the filthy slaughter houses.

When a topic as potentially sensationalistic as "Deadly Disease Being Spread to US Population with Covert US Government Cooperation" needs to be dealt with seriously, it takes responsible journalists to keep hysteria from distorting the facts. Rampton and Stauber have succeeded where others would have failed. The topic of the book is how the meat industry, their public relations firms and the governments of the USA and Britian worked together to attempt to conceal important information about a newly discovered disease that was abroad in the human food system. The truly frightening truth is that Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE, or Mad Cow Disease) is a real thing. It is one disease in a class known as Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy that have, until recently, been little researched and little understood. This book does not describe an episode of "The X-Files." People have died from it and are continuing to die from it. The authors documented the entire process of a growing crisis that has potentially world-shattering implications to millions of Americans. Pulling together original source material from obscure (and perhaps at time even hostile) sources they describe how the events unfolded and reason the events unfolded as they did. An important note is that this book is not, and does not pretend to be, a scientific treatment of BSE, TSE's or any other topic. Its approach is more realistic. The authors lay out the occurances as they transpired, uncovering innumerable bits of information that were never before collected together or presented to the general public. The book details the scientific minutae only to the degree it is relevant and stops short of either lecturing or preaching. Explaining who the players have been, their position the entire affair (including the financial risks and implications to the meat industry, the pharmacutical industry and the cosmetic industry) and where they are at the time of printing is a real life detective story whose final chapter has not been written. The only significant frustration I had with the book was the "99%" nature of some of the time oriented information. The footnotes were excellent in identifying th original sources, yet were not always clear as to if the dates were referenced were to indicate when information was released or when the actual experiment / event / discovery occurred. In fairness, I cannot level this criticism with much force, as my scrutiny of the footnotes comes from my intent to develop a fully documented timeline and collection of original source material. That they failed to do my chosen job while undertaking their own agenda can hardly be a cause for blame. As the facts concerning BSE and TSE's continue to unfold it becomes clear that the cricis is far from over. There are still more revelations to come. As more court cases come up based on the Food Disparagement / Veggie Liable Laws, the war rages on. This book give a powerful reference to help understand new events as they unfold over the next several years. Caution in reading this book may be advised, though. The material can be sufficiently frightening in its implications, you may feel the need to make new choices in lfe.

Six years before the appearance of mad cow disease in the US, this book predicted it. Mad Cow USA warned that the meat industry and the government were failing to take the necessary steps to prevent the disease here, and using falsehoods and PR to cover-up their failings. Unfortunately, this book nailed it.

I thought I was the only one laughing at the news headlines - fast food lawsuits?!?! Starbuck O'Dwyer's satire on the fast food industry is by far the most creative and hilarious book I have EVER read and it came out at a great time! The characters and plot in Red Meat Cures Cancer will keep anyone turning the pages as fast as they can while in hysterics! I recommend this book to anyone who wants to dust off their own creativity and get a laugh out of fast food!

Schuyler Witherbee Thorne, 45, the Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President in charge of marketing at Tailburger, Inc. of Rochester, New York, has a problem.
Frank T. Fanoflincoln (aka "The Link"), a Civil War buff who has legally changed his name, is the founder and President of Tailburger and the father of the golf-obsessed triplets Ned, Ted, and Fred ("a triumvirate of stupidity"). The Link gives Sky an ultimatum: "Pull Tailburger out of its tailspin. Increase our market share to five percent or you will be 'let go.' "
The flagship sandwich of the franchise, known as the Tailpipe, consists of four batter-dipped, deep-fried patties of red meat and a bun, held together by five generous dollops of Cajun-style mayonnaise. For the "fast food outlaws" at Tailburger all talk of "no fat, low fat, reduced fat, artificial fat" is anathema.
Tailburger's customers? "We go after the disenchanted, the disaffected, the dispirited and the dispossessed. We go after the self-mutilators, manic-depressives, agoraphobics, crackheads, scoop fiends, and redneck trailer trash. We're banking on the fact that most Americans would rather be fat and happy than thin and deprived."
At "Cholesterol City" the bottom line is, well, the bottom line. Advertising campaigns, no matter how mendacious, are launched if they will increase revenue. It's full speed ahead into the coronary zone, and the public be damned.
With twenty years of faithful service at Tailburger, and only six months to go until retirement, Sky looks forward to a well-deserved pension. But, given declining sales and spirited attacks by consumer advocate groups such as SERMON (Stop Eating Red Meat Now), Sky's work is cut out for him.
A widower and father of two semi-estranged grown children (Ethan and Sophia), Sky is basically a decent man who strives for moral integrity, peace of mind, and someone whom he can love and who will love him.
Trouble is, Sky, has been caught up in the rat race of pursuing the American Dream. Snared in a tangled web of deception, he cuts corners, tweaks and twists the truth, and fabricates inaccuracies. Let's face it: he lies.
Sky has a torrid encounter with Muffet Meaney, SERMON's tofu-munching, "politically correct," nymphomaniac who zealously warns consumers of Carnegeddon. He even makes a videotape of their erotic tryst. He soon realizes, however, that the real prize is Rochester's mayor, Annette McNabnay, an intelligent, beautiful, and caring woman.
Sky's "New Age" do-nothing older brother, King, who flits from job to job, seeks to heal Sky's "chee" (restore his "inner harmony") with a mishmash of Taoism, Buddhism, and Qigong, and a regimen of chai tea, organic polenta, and various soybean derivatives.
The plot thickens (sickens?) when Sky's best friend, Cal Perkins, convinces Sky to link Tailburger with a pornographic website and promote a sordid (and, as it turns out, illegal) sweepstakes at Nevada's www.lustranch.com
"Lies are wonderful devices," muses Sky. "Like hidden mines, however, they forever threaten to blow you up if you aren't careful. . . . Why do my desires and basic needs continually put me at odds with the truth? I'd started my life with the desire to have the fortitude of David Copperfield and I'd ended with the weakness of Pip."
All of his life, Sky has dreamed of escaping the rat race and sailing to Tahiti, where he will find the elusive peace of mind. Will he find love and happiness or will he be sent to prison for his shady deeds? At the end, just when it seems that Sky's ship has come in--literally--a shattering bolt from the sky, a deus ex machina, writes finis to his tale (tail?).
A rip-roaring spoof of the fast food industry and a withering satire of pork barrel politics, corruption, nepotism, toadyism, bribery, and blackmail, Red Meat Cures Cancer is a veritable primer of political incorrectness.
Raunchy, risque, and ribald, this ribbing of American pop culture is a comic romp--a hoot, a howl, a sidesplitting takeoff. If Starbuck O'Dwyer's novel doesn't make you laugh hysterically, you don't have a funny bone in your body.
Red Meat Cures Cancer, however, is more than slapstick comedy. There's also a serious leitmotif here of pathos and tragedy. Commenting on the sad state of American culture, O'Dwyer opines that the false idols of money, fame, power and youth thrive because of the perceived void of worthier things to believe in.
"Life, I'd learned," says Sky, "is just one big accumulation of wounds. Now I needed time to heal." Apparently, O'Dwyer is saying that we are fortunate if, in the end, we have found more joy in life than woe.
A well-crafted book, Red Meat Cures Cancer moves briskly; its characters, dialogue, and story line snap, crackle, and pop--like juicy burgers sizzling on a red-hot grill. Starbuck O'Dwyer has written a winner.
Starbuck O'Dwyer is a graduate of Princeton, Oxford, and Cornell Universities. Originally from Rochester, New York, he now lives near Washington, D.C. You can visit his website at www.starbuckodwyer.com
Roy E. Perry of Nolensville is an amateur philosopher, Civil War buff, chess enthusiast, and classical music lover. He is an advertising copywriter at a Nashville Publishing House.

Outrageous and smart humor makes this book an enjoyable read. The story starts so far from reality and coherently spins out of control, I found myself searching for real-world parallels. This is an effective technique making the story work and the characters memorable.

Like a recurring, well done Saturday Night Live sketch (Will Ferrell as George W. Bush or Darrell Hammond as Chris Matthews "Hardball") the caricatures follow the subject and continue to entertain far into the future. Red Meat will no doubt have the same result for the many stereotypes O'Dwyer weaves into the book.

I love stories set in familiar places and I think this is the first book I have ever read set in Rochester NY, where I grew up. The many popular landmarks from upstate NY added to the story

md
Michael Duranko
www.bootism.com