The Edible and the Endangered (Animals, Empire, Extinction)

In The Edible and the Endangered, John Levi Barnard traces the entwined histories of US imperialism, the industrial food system, and global ecological calamity. Interrogating conventional distinctions between the animals we eat and those we protect, Barnard reveals the tangled relations between a mainstream environmentalism concerned with the preservation of endangered species and the industrial animal food system that drives their endangerment. Through a rich and eclectic archive of literary and cultural productions, Barnard shows how foods ranging from the Thanksgiving turkey to the Chicken McNugget have come to be viewed as essential to both material existence and national identity in the United States, even as they have contributed significantly to a planetary ecological emergency. Despite the grim realities of climate change and mass extinction, The Edible and the Endangered holds out hope for a better world, demonstrating how understanding the historical emergence of these human-animal relations can help bring about a just and sustainable future for humans and animals alike.