Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism is a non-fiction book by Mark Hawthorne that examines a number of strategies for animal activism

Activism

Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...

 in countries such as Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The book was published by O Books in the UK in 2008 as a 282-page paperback (ISBN 978-1846940910).

More than 100 animal activists -- including Carol J. Adams, Gene Baur

Gene Baur

Gene Baur is an activist, best-selling author, and president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, the first animal rescue organization dedicated to farmed animals. He is vegan and has been at the forefront of animal rights since he began the Sanctuary in 1986.Baur grew up in Hollywood, California,...

, Alka Chandna, Nick Cooney, Karen Davis

Karen Davis

Karen Davis is the president of United Poultry Concerns, Inc., which she founded in 1990 as a nonprofit organization that promotes the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl and includes a sanctuary for domestic fowl....

, Joyce D’Silva, Adam Durand, Lisa Franzetta, Juliet Gellatley

Juliet Gellatley

Juliet Gellatley is a British writer and animal rights activist. She is the founder and director of Viva! and a former director of the Vegetarian Society...

, Bruce Friedrich

Bruce Friedrich

Bruce Friedrich is Senior Director for Strategic Initiatives at Farm Sanctuary.Friedrich serves on the governing board of the Catholic Vegetarian Society, the advisory board of the Christian Vegetarian Association, and is a founding member of the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians...

, Pattrice Jones, Erik Marcus, Jack Norris, Glenys Oogjes, lauren Ornelas

Lauren Ornelas

lauren Ornelas is an animal rights advocate for more than 20 years and the founder and Director of the Food Empowerment Project and .Ornelas grew up in Texas, where she became a vegetarian as a child. When in high school, she became a vegan and started her first animal rights group...

, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is an American writer, activist, public speaker, and cooking instructor...

, Nathan Runkle, Paul Shapiro and Kim Sturla -- discuss the models of activism that work best for advancing animal rights

Animal rights

Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...

 and animal welfare

Animal welfare

Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...

.

Contents include discussions of leafleting, writing, tabling, protesting, corporate campaigning, legislation

Legislation

Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...

, lobbying

Lobbying

Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...

, multimedia

Multimedia

Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...

, direct action

Direct action

Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...

, and using vegan food as outreach.

Hawthorne says he wrote the book because when he first got into animal activism, he couldn’t find a book like it, “one resource that you could easily carry with you” that covers the broad range of activist models. The book is written for people who are already concerned about abuse of animals and need to learn how to take effective action.

The title is derived from Walden

Walden

Walden is an American book written by noted Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau...

, in which Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...

 writes: "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root." Thoreau's phrase "striking at the root" may be an allusion to Matthew 3:10 -- "And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire."

Hawthorne says he is now working on a book about animal cruelty.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Foreword by Bruce Friedrich
  Bruce Friedrich
  Bruce Friedrich is Senior Director for Strategic Initiatives at Farm Sanctuary.Friedrich serves on the governing board of the Catholic Vegetarian Society, the advisory board of the Christian Vegetarian Association, and is a founding member of the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians...
  
  
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 -- Animal Tracts: Leafleting
• Chapter 2 -- Animal Writes: Letters, Opinion Pieces & Articles
• Chapter 3 -- Animal Talk: Tabling
• Chapter 4 -- Animal Attractions: Protests & Demonstrations
• Chapter 5 -- Animal Friendly: Food as Outreach
• Chapter 6 -- Animal Pharm: Corporate Campaigning
• Chapter 7 -- Animal House: Sanctuaries, Shelters & Rescue Centers
• Chapter 8 -- Animal Planet: The Global Reach of Multimedia
• Chapter 9 -- Animal Liberation: Direct Action
• Chapter 10 -- Animal Law: The Legal System
• Chapter 11 -- Animal Care: Activists Are Animals Too
• Appendix A -- Recent Milestones for Animals
• Appendix B -- Eleven Things You Can Do TODAY to Help Animals
• Appendix C -- Know Your Rights
• Appendix D -- Resources

External links

• Striking at the Roots web site
• Author's bio