The Dog by the Cradle, the Serpent Beneath : Some Paradoxes of Human-Animal Relationships

How do we reconcile treating our pets like pampered house guests but slaughtering other species of animals for food? As Erika Ritter explores in this fresh, fascinating and eye-opening book, at the heart of this relationship is a paradox that is almost schizophrenic in its absurdity: we humans are animals, too. Through interviews conducted around the world with philosophers, scientists, farmers, poets, pundits and commentators, Ritter makes her way through this strange maze of human contradictions about our animal brethren to produce a work that reveals as much about "us" as it does about "them." Book jacket.