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Capers in the Churchyard: Animal Rights Advocacy in the Age of Terror

Welcomed as a must-read for anyone interested in animal rights, Capers in the Churchyard: Animal Rights Advocacy in the Age of Terror is a timely look at the animal rights movement by Friends of Animals' legal director, Lee Hall. Capers not only lays out a clear view of animal rights, but also analyzes current animal advocacy campaigns.

"Here is somebody who can really think. [...] It is not only that Lee Hall thinks, but also that [Hall] encourages thinking in others. There is no experience so exhilarating as to read somebody who has thought about something more deeply than you have, and yet provides all the evidence that allows you to advance your own thinking. There is no greater excitement...than to move forward. Lee Hall moves us forward. [...] Buckle up and prepare for the ride of your life!"
     -- Foreword by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author, When Elephants Weep: The Emotional      Lives of Animals

What's in a Name?

The book's title and cover photograph are drawn from a striking event that Hall examines: a six-year campaign in England that culminated in a grave robbery. Five activists have been jailed for using the stolen remains of a relative to blackmail a family-run farm that raised guinea pigs for product testing.

Book Reviews

  • "Hall presents this challenging analysis of animal rights campaigning to encourage the movement to completely re-evaluate itself. [...] A provocative and very well-written book." The Vegan magazine of the original Vegan Society Winter 2006
  • "Hall urges advocates to focus on ethical activism that targets the root causes of animal exploitation: the claims of dominion" -- VegNews Nov/Dec 2006
  • "Hall...lays out...sharp reasoning in Capers in the Churchyard, a look at some of the philosophical quandaries currently facing animal rights activists. Violence, [Hall] claims, not only allows conservative pundits to dismiss activists by labeling them terrorists, but also violates fundamental values of the animal rights movement." E Magazine Sept/Oct 2006
  • "Capers in the Churchyard is essential reading for anyone interested in the subject of animal rights at this crucial juncture, and I am happy to enthusiastically recommend it for An Animal-Friendly Life." -- Eric Prescott, AnAnimalFriendlyLife.com 1 Aug 2006
  • "This is absolutely the best book ever written on animal rights, what works and what does not." -- Chris Kelly, grandmother in Texas who’s seen ‘em all 1 Sept 2006
  • "…many of the topics take head on issues within the animal rights movement most are too cautious to approach. … Books such as Hall's cause those of us within the movement to take the time to examine in what direction we are going and how best we might achieve the ends which we seek to achieve." -- Jamie Hagen, SuperVegan.com 28 Aug 2006
  • "...this is the kind of movement analysis that we need, in that it calls into question the entire structure of the movement, from what many would see as its most radical wing all the way over to even its most accommodationist." Vegan Freaks 22 Sept 2006
  • "Masson and Hall ask us to think seriously about the best in activism and how to model a completely new idea for others who might have never thought about it. When our own diets and our whole lives stand for treating others with respect, we are in the best position to convince others we're on to something big." -- Laurel Long, Vegetarianteen.com 10 Aug 2006
  • "This book is a must-read by those who have it in their hearts to seek a more effective means of educating the public in regards to animal rights." -- Luscious LuLu, host of Rabid, KRBS-LP Oroville 107.1 FM 22 July 2006
  • New Book From FoA Act•ionLine Summer 2006

Articles, Interviews and Events with Lee Hall

Additional Thoughts on Capers

"Capers in the Churchyard is a beautifully written book that lays out an ethical animal rights activist’s vision of a world without violence and offers a comprehensive critique of the 'eco-terrorism' of recent years." -- Morris Dees, co-founder, Southern Poverty Law Center

"Capers in the Churchyard is an informative, eloquent presentation of an abolitionist animal rights philosophy. Lee Hall clearly distinguishes [the] idea of animal rights from both animal welfare and militant animal liberation campaigns and criticizes those campaigns for diverting energy from what is fundamental in that idea: a society that renounces domination. [Hall's] critique of using violence to save animals is especially thought-provoking today, in America, when the fear card of 'Terrorism!' is constantly played to obstruct all sorts of social progress. Anyone who cares about animals or who is even just curious about ‘all this talk of rights for animals’ will profit from reading Capers in the Churchyard." -- Steve F. Sapontzis, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, California State University, Hayward; author of Morals, Reason, and Animals

"Lee Hall is calling forth the best in both animal and environmental activists; to recognize that the same winds blow all boats and that the use of violence rips holes in the ethical fabric of both movements. Capers in the Churchyard discusses the curious logic of those environmental and animal rights activists who seek a peaceful future, respectful of both animals and nature, through violence, and explains how these tactics often backfire. More important, Hall asks the deeper question, not that of tactics, but that of integrity. If actions speak louder than words, what does the brief flash of a firebomb say in comparison with veganism as direct action? The patience of non-violence may not just be the more effective tactic, but also the one that maintains the integrity of the activist, her message, and her movement." -- Jay Tutchton, Director, Environmental Law Clinic, University of Denver College of Law

Get Capers in the Churchyard

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