Overview

In this lively and fascinating book, a guilt-ridden, bacon-loving journalist finds work at an industrial pig farm as he researches the long and torrid history of humans and swine. After convincing a skeptical pig farmer to take him on as a hired hand for six months, journalist Kristoffer Endresen follows a litter of piglets from birth to slaughter, all in the hopes of understanding what goes on inside an industrial pig farm and whether humans can ethically justify eating pork...which just so happens to be the most consumed animal protein in the world. During his days as a beginner pig wrangler, he mucks out pig pens and cuddles a cute piglet. He inseminates a female pig and narrowly escapes being trampled. Endresen interweaves his fast times at a piggery with surprising insights into the long and star-crossed bond between pigs and humans - drawing on history, literature, archeology, and myth - and shares new science into video-game-playing swine and pig heart transplants, and asks if pigs really are as smart as we think. Both an engaging saga of an overlooked animal and a provocative exploration of the ethics of industrial meat, The Pig and I asks us to consider not only where our food comes from, but also the tangled history that first brought it to our plates.

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9781771649902

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Reviews

"""By turns thought-provoking, shudder-inducing, and funny as hell, Endresen’s heartfelt The Pig and I gave this guilt-ridden Spanish ham-lover a thorough schooling in the often astonishing ways of swine."" —Taras Grescoe, author of Bottomfeeder and The Lost Supper ""From the evolution of pigs and the dismal consequences of industrial pork production to the surprising mental capacities of swine, The Pig and I takes a beautifully written deep-dive into our morally complicated relationships with the most widely consumed mammal on earth. Endressen is a compelling storyteller, and his book is both entertaining and, ultimately, haunting."" —Hal Herzog, author of Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It’s So Hard to Think Straight About Animals ""A lovely book about a much misunderstood animal. It manages to be simultaneously an entertaining trot through the history of the pig and a searing indictment of factory farming."" —Roger Morgan-Grenville, author of Across a Waking Land ""In this worthy addition to the porcine canon, Endresen describes the grueling conditions of a hog confinement farm while also detailing the history, science, and lore of this fascinating animal and its relationship to humans—truly the whole hog."" —Barry Estabrook, author of Pig Tales"

"""A lovely book about a much misunderstood animal. It manages to be simultaneously an entertaining trot through the history of the pig and a searing indictment of factory farming.""—Roger Morgan-Grenville, author of Across a Waking Land ""In this worthy addition to the porcine canon, Endresen describes the grueling conditions of a hog confinement farm while also detailing the history, science, and lore of this fascinating animal and its relationship to humans—truly the whole hog.""—Barry Estabrook, author of Pig Tales"

"""A lovely book about a much misunderstood animal. It manages to be simultaneously an entertaining trot through the history of the pig and a searing indictment of factory farming."" —Roger Morgan-Grenville, author of Across a Waking Land ""In this worthy addition to the porcine canon, Endresen describes the grueling conditions of a hog confinement farm while also detailing the history, science, and lore of this fascinating animal and its relationship to humans—truly the whole hog."" —Barry Estabrook, author of Pig Tales"

Author Information

Kristoffer Hatteland Endresen is a historian and journalist who has worked in both writing and teaching. This is his first book. He lives in Norway.

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