Animal Envy

Ralph Nader's newest work of the imagination, Animal Envy, is a fable about the kinds of intelligences that are all around us in other animals. What would animals tell us—about themselves, about us—if there were a common language among all animal species? A bracingly simple idea, one that has been used before in books like George Orwell's Animal Farm and E. B. White's Charlotte's Web among others, but never like this. In Animal Envy, Ralph Nader proposes, quite plausibly, that a programmer has created a "digital translation" app whereby animals of different species, from insects to whales, can speak to one another, and through a "hyper-advanced converter" these animals can then also speak, both collectively and individually, to humans. It is decided that there will be a global assembly. It will be called "The Great Talkout." Humans are persuaded to reserve 100 hours of network coverage so The Great Talkout may begin and will be viewed by humans everywhere, in all human languages, as well as all animal languages. The narrative that ensues is deeply felt and powerfully informed. Just as he did when he wrote Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us, Nader shows here that his visionary genius knows no limits.

Oxana Timofeeva's The History of Animals: A Philosophy is an original and ambitious treatment of the "animal question". While philosophers have always made distinctions between human beings and animals, Timofeeva imagines a world free of such walls and borders. Timofeeva shows the way towards the full acceptance of our animality; an acceptance which does not mean the return to our animal roots, or anything similar. The freedom generated by this acceptance operates through negativity; is an effect of the rejection of the very core of metaphysical philosophy and Christian culture, traditionally opposed to our 'animal' nature and seemingly detached from it. With a foreword by Slavoj Žižek, this book is accessible, jargon-free and ideal for students and all those interested in re-imagining how we engage with animals and the environment.

A collection of columns and essays that reveal Ralph Nader at his outspoken and prescient best, fighting the good fight against corporate corruption, unbalanced political power, consumer dangers, big pharma, and climate deniers. Features an introduction by Lewis Lapham. This collection is classic Nader—exhorting us to make our world and nation a better place, even when faced with unchecked political and corporate power, and perverse market and regulatory incentives. He starts with the declaration that the national Democratic Party bureaucrats are either inept or bewildered. With its record-setting campaign fundraising, he bemoans how the Party can’t seem to figure out how to go on the offensive against the overtly lying, cruel, corrupt, law-breaking, Wall Street over Main Street, Trumpian Republican Party. In another essay he praises Canada, explaining that the majority of citizens love their health care system—Medicare-for-all, free choice of doctor and hospital , everybody in, nobody out and far less expensive with better outcomes overall. Highlighting heroes like Pete Seeger, Wendell Berry, the journalist Helen Thomas, Nader also celebrates citizens like the lesser-known charismatic George S. Hawkins, general manager of the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority who brought immense energy, vision, and ambitious, overdue plans to the forefront for American’s public drinking water. Meanwhile, he doesn’t shy away from enemies—for example Nader slams the evils of Big Pharma’s strength and hold over Congress and infinite greed. Nader also brings American history to the present day with creative twists. “We need to remember Ben Franklin, our frugal forebear, who coined the phrase ‘a penny saved is a penny earned,’” he writes. “Today he would say ‘a trillion BTUs saved is a trillion BTUs earned.’” Ranging from hernia repair to auto safety reports and warnings about lethal super-bugs and global pandemics from 2013, Nader’s essays and newspaper columns will inform and activate his legions of fans.