books, movies & music Pit Bull by Bronwen Dickey, reviewed by Anna Cooke. Also, featured: Saving The World One Pooch At A Time.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” was a stock response to verbal bullying in the school playground while growing up. The old adage dates back to March 1862 in the Christian Recorder, an American periodical with a largely black audience. Every chapter in Bronwen Dickey’s profound book, Pit Bull,
The Battle Over An American Icon, proves over and over again that, unfortunately, names do hurt. In fact, a name is all that’s necessary to hand down the death sentence to a dog, sim- ply because of its looks. The term “pit bull” has become an elastic, imprecise and subjec- tive phrase. Over the past two decades, the category termed pit bull has expanded to include mixed-breed dogs that possess supposed “pit bull characteristics.” But, many dogs in shelters identified as pit mixes actually aren’t pit bulls at all.
About 35 Americans are killed each year by some type of
dog, as opposed to the thirty-five thousand who die in car accidents. Bronwen writes, “Unlike overdoses and car accidents, however, exceedingly rare events like dog attacks terrify the most primitive, reptilian parts of our brains, especially when a pit bull is involved. It allows the audience to choose sides when looking to place blame.” That may seem like a simplistic statement, but Bronwen is armed with stats and facts as a result of interviewing some very intelligent people, well-versed on the subject matter. The book is the culmination of seven years of research that took her across 15 states, interviewing more than 350 people.
“The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” –Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, one of many quotes Bronwen uses throughout her book “Pit Bull” to drive home her point. Pit Bull, published by Alfred A. Knopf.
Beneath America’s need to define a singular “truth” about pit
bulls, writes Bronwen, is a much more revealing division: that pit bulls are not for people like us – the respectable and morally upstanding members of society; pit bulls belong to them. “As long as there are different classes of people, there will be different classes of dogs.” Indeed. Pit bulls, says PETA’s founder Ingrid Newkirk, are
only kept by “drug dealers” and “pimps.” Bronwen’s book covers the history of the American Pit Bull
Terrier (APBT), which originated as a fighting dog in Massachusetts in 1889. A century later, American lawyers and
52 THE NEW BARKER
politicians expanded the term to include the American Staffordshire Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. In 2013, one more breed was added when the United Kennel Club (UKC) formally recognized the American Bully. Bronwen’s book has so much invaluable information, that if
money were not an issue, I would purchase one for every Florida politician and shelter director in Florida. It should be required reading for anyone in the media prior to doing a story on dogs. You’ll rethink the sensationalized approach. Pit Bull also has some really heartwarming stories, like the one about Sir Walter Scott and his dog Camp, a Bulldog Terrier. Never did Scott’s daughter Sophia see a man this devastated until Camp died in 1809. Her father chose a spot just outside his office window for Camp’s grave and would smooth the turf down with his own hands each night under moonlight. He admitted to friends that the depth of his grief embar- rassed him. All of this for a dog? “Camp has made the sort of blank which nothing will fill up for a long while,” confided Scott in a letter.
Bronwen Dickey, author of Pit Bull. She is an essayist and
journalist who writes regularly for the Oxford American.
Bronwen was inspired to write the book after bringing her
own dog home from the shelter. She saw no traces of the infamous viciousness in Nola, her affectionate, timid dog, labeled a pit bull mix by the shelter.
U
Saving The World One Pooch At A Time, written by Maureen Flaherty, a contributor to The New Barker. The book was made possible through the record-breaking auction of the Brook Hill Dog, a chromist- made reproduction on tin, after a painting by Alexander Pope. She found the piece, not knowing its actual value, at the Lakewood Ranch Goodwill. It brought in a record $5150 at auction. Flaherty donated half the money to pay for animal rescue bills. The remaining portion went toward paying for the design of the book that, she hopes, will inspire
people to become involved in animal rescue. “I wanted to encour- age fostering. I thought if I could develop a really engaging book that showcased animal rescue and the different options for becoming involved, more people might give it a try,” said Flaherty. Published by Cooper & Rogers Publishing Group.
U
www.TheNewBarker.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104
