Overview

The Cape Fear River runs through Bladen County, North Carolina, population 33,000. On its western bank, in the town of Tar Heel, sits the largest slaughterhouse in the world. Deep below the slaughterhouse, one may find the arrowheads of Siouan-speaking peoples who roamed there for a millennium. Nearer the surface is evidence of slaves who labored there for a century. And now, the slaughterhouse kills the population of Bladen County, in hogs, every day. In this remarkable account, Wise traces the history of todays deadly harvest. From the colonies to the slave trade, from the artificial conception and unrecorded death of one single pig to the surreal science of the pork industrywhose workers continue the centuries of oppressionhe unveils a portrait of this nation through the lives of its most vulnerable. His explorations ultimately lead to hope from a most unlikely source: the Baptist clergy, a voice in this wilderness proclaiming a new view of creation.

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9780306814754

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Reviews

"Curled Up with a Good Book ""Wise puts his facts together carefully, examining the pork industry, in which North Carolina is a pioneer state, from pre-natal to pork chop. Without assigning blame, he casts light on how the daily grind of this brutal work shop turns workers callous...Wise is not asking that we boycott pork or take up a radical vegan lifestyle...He is hoping to find, not converts, but advocates for the pig. With this dramatic and incisive book, he will no doubt find many."""

Animal-rights lawyer Wise fashions (Though the Heavens May Fall: The Landmark Trial That Led to the End of Human Slavery, 2006, etc.) an angry, oddly focused denunciation of industrial pig farming in North Carolina.Seeking to expose the disgusting practices of the largest abattoir in the world, the Tar Heel, N.C., factory operated by Smithfield Foods, the author first sifts through the strata of injustice previously enacted on the same site - namely, the genocide of Native Americans and black slavery. In the early chapters, Wise establishes that the white settlers believed they had a God-given right to wrest the wilderness of the New World from the Anti-Christ in the forest, the Native Americans. The early settlers also decimated the tribes with European diseases, and visited their Genesis disaster on blacks, specifically at the Walnut Grove slave plantation, which was owned by the Robeson family and subsequently parceled to become Tar Heel town and the slaughterhouse complex. Gradually, Wise arrives at his subject - how the granting of human dominion over all God's creatures has allowed us to abdicate, without impunity, all responsibility and respect toward animals. Though he educated himself by visiting the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, the author was not allowed inside the Smithfield factory; his chronicle of Tar Heel's appalling practices is based on interviews with workers. In lieu of firsthand reporting, he imagines the life of Wilbur, following the process from piglet to bacon. Ultimately, Wise returns to a discussion of the church - both Catholic and Southern Baptist - and its changing attitude toward the troubling biblical license of dominion. The author's passion for animal rights is unquestionably commendable, but his method of displaying the fallacies of religious certainties is dubious. (Kirkus Reviews)

Curled Up with a Good Book<br> Wise puts his facts together carefully, examining the pork industry, in which North Carolina is a pioneer state, from pre-natal to pork chop. Without assigning blame, he casts light on how the daily grind of this brutal work shop turns workers callous...Wise is not asking that we boycott pork or take up a radical vegan lifestyle...He is hoping to find, not converts, but advocates for the pig. With this dramatic and incisive book, he will no doubt find many. <br><p>InfoDad.com, 4/9/09<br> [Wise] marshals his arguments with lawyerly tendentiousness. <p> Augusta Metro Spirit, 4/15/09<br> In a narrative crafted with poise, Steven M. Wise takes on the slaughterhouse...[The] fascinating intersections between animal and human torture...must be considered when attempting to understand the world through a critical lens...Wise offers an intriguing glimpse of the factory-farming industry...With a stunning collection of archival accounts from newspapers, personal correspondence, and powerful conversations concerning everything from common life to evangelical desire, Wise's latest is a powerhouse of information. <p>AnimalRadio.com<br> A revealing and somewhat shocking look at not only the plight of the pigs of Bladen County but of our society and the way we view animals. I recommend it as a very deep and thought provoking read for all animal lovers. <p> January, 5/6/09<br> Once again, Wise has written a trenchant and important book...Wise examines why Americans accept the type of cruelty he shows us in Bladen County, North Carolina. More: he connects it with cruelty to Native Americans as well as African American slaves. He does all of this with the style and grace that always marks his work. An American Trilogy is a remarkable book. <p> ForeWord, May/June 2009<br> Disturbing and enraging, Wise's book exposes both the facts and the ideological underpinnings of the brutal world of modern meat production. <p> VegNews, June/July 2009<br>

Curled Up with a Good Book Wise puts his facts together carefully, examining the pork industry, in which North Carolina is a pioneer state, from pre-natal to pork chop. Without assigning blame, he casts light on how the daily grind of this brutal work shop turns workers callous...Wise is not asking that we boycott pork or take up a radical vegan lifestyle...He is hoping to find, not converts, but advocates for the pig. With this dramatic and incisive book, he will no doubt find many. InfoDad.com, 4/9/09 [Wise] marshals his arguments with lawyerly tendentiousness. Augusta Metro Spirit, 4/15/09 In a narrative crafted with poise, Steven M. Wise takes on the slaughterhouse...[The] fascinating intersections between animal and human torture...must be considered when attempting to understand the world through a critical lens...Wise offers an intriguing glimpse of the factory-farming industry...With a stunning collection of archival accounts from newspapers, personal correspondence, and powerful conversations concerning everything from common life to evangelical desire, Wise's latest is a powerhouse of information. AnimalRadio.com A revealing and somewhat shocking look at not only the plight of the pigs of Bladen County but of our society and the way we view animals. I recommend it as a very deep and thought provoking read for all animal lovers. January, 5/6/09 Once again, Wise has written a trenchant and important book...Wise examines why Americans accept the type of cruelty he shows us in Bladen County, North Carolina. More: he connects it with cruelty to Native Americans as well as African American slaves. He does all of this with the style and grace that always marks his work. An American Trilogy is a remarkable book. ForeWord, May/June 2009 Disturbing and enraging, Wise's book exposes both the facts and the ideological underpinnings of the brutal world of modern meat production. VegNews, June/July 2009 Lawyer/writer Steven Wise may be the John Grisham of the animal-rights movement...In An American Trilogy, Wise descends upon Bladen County, NC, from where he relays a fascinating story of a five-century long triumvirate of oppressions on this single patch of land...Well researched. Law and Politics Book Review, June 2009 Provides a synoptic history of the swine industry, as well as some insight into its contemporary policies and mechanisms...Wise provides a good deal of interesting information regarding the present state of the swine industry and its development over time. Wilmington (NC) Star-News, 6/28 One needn't be a bleeding heart liberal to be appalled by all this. Choice, October issue In sparse yet effective prose, [Wise] shows how the historical wrongs of the genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of black Americans were rationalized with the same religious and political language that pervades the rationalization of the contemporary daily suffering of millions of hogs raised for slaughter in factory farms...The author blends history and recent interviews to marshal his arguments with the resolve of the animal rights lawyer that he is...[A] sound attempt to move thought about the immoral torment and slaughter of humans to the torment and slaughter of pigs...Recommended. Bark magazine, Bark's 100 list of the best and the brightest, February/March 2010 In groundbreaking books, [Wise] challenges the 'animals as property' notion and argues for incremental recognition of their separate interests.

Author Information

Steven M. Wise, Esq., has taught at the Harvard, Vermont, and John Marshall law schools and has practiced animal protection litigation since 1982. He is the author of Rattling the Cage, Drawing the Line, and Though the Heavens May Fall. He lives in Coral Springs, Florida.

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