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I thought the book sometime spent too much time on some subjects, and too little on others. But still, overall, a good book.
Lots of people have tried to make an issue about Hitler's claimed vegetarianism. Of course whether he was or wasn't has no bearing on his actions. But since so many people make an issue of it, Spencer had to cover Hitler. What Spencer says about Hitler isn't the same as what I had heard from other sources. Most other sources I thought said Hitler enjoyed meat, but gave up most meat due to digestion problems. Spencer says that Hitler was vegetarian just to be different then everybody else. Which is true, I don't know, but I would assume that Spencer knows what he is talking about.
My only quibble is that Spencer could've covered the last 100 years in more depth. The last 50 pages is surprisingly lacking in the same kind of detail that Spencer devoted to, (for instance) the Early Christian era. Maybe the last 100 years has been covered better in other books? I don't know, since this is the first book of its type that I've read.
OK, actually I have one other quibble.....In the last 20 pages, Spencer goes off on a rant about corporate farming, the effects of livestock farming on the environment, the dangers of eating meat (salmonella, heart disease, cancer). I thought this was a "history" of vegetarianism??? I mean, I agree with all the things he says about the above topics. I'm an ardent vegetarian myself, but I wish he had devoted more space to the last 100 years of vegetarianism, instead of the polemic.
Another thing to consider is tha Spencer goes go more in detail about vegetarianism in Europe and the UK. If you want a lengthier discussion on vegetarianism in the U.S try somewhere else. This is still an excellent book for a history of vegetarianism. I hope that other authors will take up this topic.
DEMONIC TEACHING.
