I enjoy reading these "micro-histories" and since this one involved an animal--one that you can eat, it combines two of my greatest interests. I was fascinated with the story of how pigs were domesticated and co-evolved with humans in some ways similarly to dogs. Because of their nature however, pigs are unique among domesticated farm animals. Essig does a great job of describing just why that is, much of it having to do with the fact that they are omnivorous--and pretty smart.

I learned a lot of interesting--often disturbing--things about these animals, including the changing historical attitudes towards them (often based in religion but also in social ways), their role in driving Native Americans off their lands, and how taking away access to raising them was used to control freed slaves and poor whites in the South after the civil war.

Essig very skillfully leads the reader right up to the present, in the later chapters turning to the problematic ways pigs are being bred and raised in this country. There is hope for a change to more humane methods here, but unfortunately in China where pork consumption is soaring, the practices are moving in the opposite direction.

This book is interesting and fun to read, but as someone who eats pork, it also gives me pause. It certainly makes me want to cut down on or buy only humanely raised pork.

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