Beastly: The 40,000-Year Story of Animals and Us

by Keggie Carew

Overview

From an award-winning writer, a story-rich exploration of our shared planet, and the astonishing, moving, and troubled connections between humans and other animals

Animals have shaped our minds, our lives, our land, and our civilization. Humanity would not have gotten very far without them, and yet, over the past two centuries, the relationship has grown further apart. In Beastly, author Keggie Carew seeks to re-enchant readers with the wild world, reframing our understanding of what it is like to be an animal and what our role is as humans.

Beastly throws readers headlong into the mind-blowing, heart-thumping, glittering pageant of life, and goes in search of our most revealing encounters with the animal world throughout the centuries to show where we’ve come from and where we’re going. How did we domesticate animals and why did we choose sheep, goats, cows, pigs, horses, and chickens—but never zebras? How can whales help solve climate change? What does it mean when a young woman befriends a boar, a gorilla tells a joke, or a fish thinks? What does a wren sing? Beastly is a gorgeously written, deeply researched, and intensely felt journey into the splendor and genius of animals and the long, complicated story of our interactions with them as humans. Our relationship with animals has shaped our planet and, if reimagined, could save it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419767036
Publisher:	Abrams Press
Publication date:	07/18/2023
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	1,047,061
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Keggie Carew has lived in West Cork, Barcelona, Texas, Auckland, and London. Before writing, her career was in contemporary art. She is the author of Dadland, which won the 2016 Costa Biography Award, and Quicksand Tales. She lives in Wiltshire, England, where, with her husband, Jonathan Thomson, she established the Underhill Wood Nature Reserve.

Editorial Reviews

05/22/2023

In this eye-opening survey, memoirist Carew (Quicksand Tales) illuminates the varied ways humans have related to animals throughout history and contends that they’re more emotionally sophisticated than people give them credit for. Decrying the cruelty humans have inflicted on animals, Carew notes that ancient Romans killed thousands of bears, lions, and other creatures in the Colosseum and that 19th-century animal dealer Carl Hagenbeck used brutal methods to capture baboons, giraffes, and zebras in Africa, and ship them to zoos around the world. Other stories cast doubt on scientists who dismiss animals’ apparent displays of emotion as anthropomorphism. In 2011, for example, a humpback whale was filmed leaping out of the water 40 times over the course of an hour in joy after humans freed her from a fishing net. Carew also highlights the emotional bonds animals form with humans, describing how Polish wildlife photographer Lech Wilczek rescued a young raven who in adulthood rode around on Wilczek’s shoulder and the back of his motorbike. The heartwarming anecdotes persuasively attest to the complexity of animals’ interior lives, making a strong case for humans to reconsider how they treat other species. Impassioned and entertaining, this is a no-brainer for animal lovers. Photos. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Full of necessary rage, joy, and passion: Beastly should be mandatory reading for all humans.

Claire Fuller

Wondrous true stories of kinship between humans and our fellow creatures . . . [An] impassioned account about the ways in which wild animals have shaped, and will continue to shape, our lives, particularly in the teeth of the climate emergency.

Bookseller

This book is sensational. I am fascinated by the animals, as I thought I would be, but I am equally fascinated by the humans. The writing is so beautiful. The most natural writer there ever was. I MEAN IT!

author of Five Days Gone and The Vanishing Vel Laura Cumming

What a delightful book! A brilliant and insightful selection of revealing stories about our complicated relationship with other animals, told with Carew's uniquely smart and stylish verve. A hugely enjoyable, thought-provoking book.

Gaia Vince

What a wonderful and unexpected book. The very opposite of beastly: heavenly and amazing, powerful and affecting, a beloved and very fine teller of tales reminds us how small we are in the face of a nature that we neither understand nor wish to respect or, in any real sense, live with.

author East West Street and The Ratline Philippe Sands

This entertaining and mind-expanding book on our relationship with other animals is so full of surprising facts and fascinating stories that my copy has practically every page folded down or highlighted or annotated with exclamation marks. Keggie’s writing makes me laugh but it also makes me think; the perfect combination. Beastlyis a brilliant book for anyone who questions how we might live more ethically, more harmoniously and more happily alongside the other creatures in this crowded and beautiful world.

author of Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebou Cal Flyn

This book is different, quirky and powerful.

author of Remarkable Birds Mark Avery

If you are interested in the animal kingdom; if you are interested in the past, present and future of planet Earth; if you are interested in anything at all, then this gorgeous, joyous, sobering book is for you.

The Irish Times

Dazzling … [a] fantastic, heartfelt history of human-animal relations.

The Guardian

Moving, poignant, yet funny. A charmingly eccentric exploration of our increasingly dysfunctional relationship with nature, peppered with peculiar, remarkable tales both joyous and sad.

author of Silent Earth and A Sting in the Tale Dave Goulson

A hugely entertaining, insightful, and far-reaching look into the fascinating complexity of our relationships with animals. The writing sparkles with wit and wisdom, allowing us to see ourselves through the eyes of the non-humans we so carelessly share this planet with.

Wild Fell: Fighting for Nature on a Lake Distr Lee Schofield

Exhilaratingly busy with ideas … Beastly is greedy for the creaturely kingdom, scooping in facts like a humpback whale engulfing a cloud of krill.

Perspective

Beastly will change the way you see the world.

Cornelia Parker

This book is BRILLIANT! I’ve tried to find the right words to do it justice but can’t. The way Keggie breathes life into the animals whose tales she tells, with such passion and purpose, is amazing . . . Feeling deeply affected by what I’ve read, and learned . . .

author of Dancing with Bees: A Journey Back to Brigit Strawbridge

What a wonderful and unexpected book. The very opposite of beastly: heavenly and amazing, powerful and affecting, a beloved and very fine teller of tales reminds us how small we are in the face of a nature that we neither understand nor wish to respect or, in any real sense, live with.”—Philippe Sands, author East West Street and The Ratline

“This entertaining and mind-expanding book on our relationship with other animals is so full of surprising facts and fascinating stories that my copy has practically every page folded down or highlighted or annotated with exclamation marks. Keggie’s writing makes me laugh but it also makes me think; the perfect combination. Beastlyis a brilliant book for anyone who questions how we might live more ethically, more harmoniously and more happily alongside the other creatures in this crowded and beautiful world.”—Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding In the Post-Human Landscape

“Wondrous true stories of kinship between humans and our fellow creatures . . . [An] impassioned account about the ways in which wild animals have shaped, and will continue to shape, our lives, particularly in the teeth of the climate emergency.”—Bookseller

“Full of necessary rage, joy, and passion: Beastly should be mandatory reading for all humans.”—Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground, Bitter Orange, and Swimming Lessons

“Moving, poignant, yet funny. A charmingly eccentric exploration of our increasingly dysfunctional relationship with nature, peppered with peculiar, remarkable tales both joyous and sad.”—Dave Goulson, author of Silent Earth and A Sting in the Tale

“This book is sensational. I am fascinated by the animals, as I thought I would be, but I am equally fascinated by the humans. The writing is so beautiful. The most natural writer there ever was. I MEAN IT!”—Laura Cumming, author of Five Days Gone and The Vanishing Velázquez

“What a delightful book! A brilliant and insightful selection of revealing stories about our complicated relationship with other animals, told with Carew's uniquely smart and stylish verve. A hugely enjoyable, thought-provoking book.”—Gaia Vince, author of Nomad Century and Transcendence: How Humans Evolved Through Fire, Language, Be

“A hugely entertaining, insightful, and far-reaching look into the fascinating complexity of our relationships with animals. The writing sparkles with wit and wisdom, allowing us to see ourselves through the eyes of the non-humans we so carelessly share this planet with.”—Lee Schofield, Wild Fell: Fighting for Nature on a Lake District Hill Farm

“This book is BRILLIANT! I’ve tried to find the right words to do it justice but can’t. The way Keggie breathes life into the animals whose tales she tells, with such passion and purpose, is amazing . . . Feeling deeply affected by what I’ve read, and learned . . .”—Brigit Strawbridge, author of Dancing with Bees: A Journey Back to Nature

“Beastly will change the way you see the world.”—Cornelia Parker

“If you are interested in the animal kingdom; if you are interested in the past, present and future of planet Earth; if you are interested in anything at all, then this gorgeous, joyous, sobering book is for you.”—The Irish Times

“Dazzling … [a] fantastic, heartfelt history of human-animal relations.”—The Guardian

“Exhilaratingly busy with ideas … Beastly is greedy for the creaturely kingdom, scooping in facts like a humpback whale engulfing a cloud of krill.”—Perspective

“This book is different, quirky and powerful.”—Mark Avery, author of Remarkable Birds

From the Publisher

2023-04-11
An intriguing study of “the gargantuan story of our paradoxical relationship with the animal world.”

British nature writer Carew, author of Dadland and Quicksand Tales, offers a compelling mixture of memoir, history of human dealings with animals, and accounts of human-animal relations today, which includes fascinating and gruesome stories, brilliant individuals, and a modicum of hope. Most religious origin stories portray humans as having authority over animals, and humans have waged a centurieslong “war against nature,” selecting animals based on “characteristics useful to us: meatiness, hardiness, woolliness, adaptability, docility, and we dispatched the individuals who didn’t suit. Quite sinister. A bit like The Handmaid’s Tale for farm animals.” Still, writes the author, “we are more similar than alien, closer than far apart. When apes touch their lips together like kissing, it is kissing. When they put their arms around each other as if they were embracing, they are embracing.” In addition, “fish feel pain.” There follow two dozen vivid chapters describing human-animal relations, and readers should expect a rough ride. The mass slaughter of birds to decorate 19th-century women’s hats is a conservation cliché, but the details will disturb even the most enlightened reader. They will also marvel at the dazzling accomplishments of homing, racing, and performing pigeons. Carew makes a convincing argument that killing animals for pleasure (fox hunting, trophy hunting) is a form of necrophilia, with hunters expressing intense, physical love of their victims. As “the smartest animals,” humans have the tools for environmental preservation, although billionaires seem to accomplish as much as national governments. The author argues passionately for making “ecocide” a crime against humanity under international law along with genocide and war crimes. Since international law is unenforceable, nations can join for superficial reasons, but this turns out to produce some inconveniences for industries bent on destruction.

Beautiful nature writing, the usual horrors, and modest optimism.

Kirkus Reviews

[Haywood] delivers emphatic voicework to go with Carew's opinions . . . Haywood puts rising anger into her voice as she delivers Carew's skepticism.

AudioFile

Dazzling…[a] fantastic, heartfelt history of human-animal relations.”

The Guardian (London)

[A] gorgeous, joyous, sobering book.”

Irish Times (Dublin)

Author Keggie Carew asks listeners to reconsider how they relate to animals, starting out with anecdotes that fascinate and shifting to opinions she herself characterizes as strong. Pippa Haywood narrates with her British accent, switching briefly to an Eastern European one to tell the story of a mischievous raven and later taking on the voice of Pigeon Pete, a bird trainer. Haywood sounds amazed with wonders such as the world's largest fish-breeding colony, off Antarctica. She delivers emphatic voicework to go with Carew's opinions, sounding sarcastic for Carew's impression of a natural history museum that emphasizes its café and stern when Carew criticizes a wolf study's use of traps. Haywood puts rising anger into her voice as she delivers Carew's skepticism about a possible Mars settlement. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2023 - AudioFile