Dominion

The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy

By: Matthew Scully

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

Length: 19 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

In a crucial passage from the Old Testament, God grants mankind power over animals. But with this privilege comes the grave responsibility to respect life, to treat animals with simple dignity and compassion. Somewhere along the way, something has gone wrong.

In Dominion, we witness the annual convention of Safari Club International, an organization whose wealthier members will pay up to $20,000 to hunt an elephant, a lion, or another animal, either abroad or in American "safari ranches", where the animals are fenced in pens. We attend the annual International Whaling Commission conference, where the skewed politics of the whaling industry come to light, and the focus is on developing more lethal, but not more merciful, methods of harvesting "living marine resources". And we visit a gargantuan American "factory farm", where animals are treated as mere product and raised in conditions of mass confinement, bred for passivity and bulk, inseminated and fed with machines, and slaughtered in a way that maximizes profits and minimizes decency.

The result is eye-opening, painful and infuriating, insightful and rewarding. Dominion is a plea for human benevolence and mercy, a scathing attack on those who would dismiss animal activists as mere sentimentalists, and a demand for reform from the government down to the individual.

©2002 Matthew Scully (P)2019 Tantor

Book exudes love for animals

I had previously bought two copies of Dominion and wanted an audio rendering of it. Initially, I didn’t like Runette’s voice, but it didn’t take very long for me to get my bearings and to appreciate his pitch and cadence. Now it seems that no one else could excel him. His portrayal (transference? transmission?) of Scully’s logic in Chapter One that if God loves us, does he not also love His other creatures(?) unlocked the inner child in me and tears welled up. I wonder if the other reviewers who reacted negatively to Runette could do the same.

Scully unashamedly rebuts the traditional and biased arguments that either attempt to hide or dismiss with experimental bias the conscious suffering of animals. He convinced me that since the ingenuity of God and humankind provides alternatives to the profligate suffering of animals (the status quo is not necessary across the board), as animals have sacrificed for me and others, I am compelled to sacrifice my preferences for them.

Listened to it in 4 days and wanted more

There is nothing I didn’t like about this book, except that it’s non-fiction. It is simply the most comprehensive, articulate, fact based, animal welfare book I’ll ever hope to read. Moreover it brings everything back to peace, love, humanity, compassion, mercy, common sense, and rationale. This is what type of literature that influences those not already on the side of the animals. This is the type of research and presentation I believe could change minds. This is the way we should conduct ourselves as advocates to have more impactful reach. I sent it to my family, friends, and will have anyone who dates me listen to it; because it says it all. It is the common ground for which we can begin intelectual conversations.

Thought-Provoking but Poorly Read

If you’re already leaning towards a cruelty-free life and/or veganism, this is the book for you. It felt like a 19-hr long sermon; interesting at times, and certainly thought-provoking, but the performance didn’t do anything good.