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1960-1993

1960-1993

The word had a home; now it needed a case. An American society tied it to ahimsa, Ruth Harrison exposed the factory farm, Peter Singer gave it a philosophy, and by 1988 the Vegan Society had settled the definition still quoted today.

The books and thinkers that built the modern animal movement.
Wikimedia Commons / Peter Singer
  1. 1960

    1960

    America's Vegan Society

    A 26-year-old founded the American Vegan Society and tied it explicitly to the Jain principle of ahimsa.

    In 1960, 26-year-old H. Jay Dinshah founded the American Vegan Society.

    H. Jay Dinshah, American Vegan Society
    Source: Wikipedia, American Vegan Society
  2. 1964

    1964

    Factory Farming Gets a Name

    Ruth Harrison's book put the phrase and the reality of intensive animal agriculture in front of the public for the first time.

    When published in 1964, Animal Machines prompted public outcry against the conditions in factory farming which for many people were entirely unknown before Harrison revealed them.

    Ruth Harrison, Animal Machines
    Source: Wikipedia, Animal Machines
  3. 1965

    1965

    Brophy Lights the Fuse

    The Sunday Times invited the novelist Brigid Brophy to write an opinion piece and got the essay now credited with helping to spark the modern animal rights movement. The Oxford philosophers took it from there.

    The relationship of Homo sapiens to the other animals is one of unremitting exploitation. We employ their work; we eat and wear them.

    Brigid Brophy, 'The Rights of Animals', The Sunday Times, 1965
    Source: Wikipedia, Animal rights movement
  4. 1970

    1970

    A Word for the Prejudice: Speciesism

    A clinical psychologist handed out a leaflet in Oxford protesting animal experiments and gave the movement its name for the prejudice it fights. He said the word came to him in the bath.

    Ryder coined the term speciesism to describe the exclusion of nonhuman animals from the protections available to human beings.

    Richard D. Ryder, privately printed leaflet, Oxford
    Source: Wikipedia, Richard D. Ryder
  5. 1975

    1975

    Animal Liberation

    Peter Singer's book gave the modern animal movement its intellectual spine and made 'speciesism' a word people argued about.

    Peter Singer's book gave the modern animal movement its intellectual spine and made 'speciesism' a word people argued about.

    Peter Singer, Animal Liberation

    Source: Wikipedia, Animal Liberation (book)
  6. 1980

    April 15, 1980

    The Ad That Cornered Revlon

    Henry Spira put one question in the paper of record, aimed at the Draize eye test. Within a year Revlon had put $750,000 into the search for alternatives to animal testing, and other cosmetics companies followed.

    How many rabbits does Revlon blind for beauty's sake?

    Henry Spira and Animal Rights International, full-page advertisement, The New York Times, April 15, 1980
    Source: Wikipedia, Henry Spira
  7. 1988

    Winter 1988

    The Definition Settles

    The society arrived at the wording still quoted today, careful to say 'as far as is possible and practicable'.

    a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude

    The Vegan Society
    Source: The Vegan Society, History

The bookshelf

The book on this era

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  1. The argument

    The Case for Animal Rights (opens Bookshop.org)

    Tom Regan · 1983

    Tom Regan's 1983 book of philosophy argues that animals who are subjects of a life have rights that forbid using them as resources.

  2. The history

    Diet for a Small Planet (opens Bookshop.org)

    Frances Moore Lappé · 1971

    Frances Moore Lappe's 1971 argument that eating lower on the food chain stretches grain further. Her protein-combining chart was later revised by the author herself.

  3. The argument

    The Sexual Politics of Meat (opens Bookshop.org)

    Carol J. Adams · 1990

    Carol Adams's 1990 feminist analysis links how meat is marketed to how women are depicted, and it remains widely cited in vegan writing.

  4. The argument

    Animal Liberation Now (opens Bookshop.org)

    Peter Singer · 2023

    Peter Singer's 2023 revision of his 1975 book updates the argument against factory farming with new research on animal sentience and the conditions on farms.

This history is still being written.

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