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Animal Machines
When you think of Ruth Harrison, who died at age 79 on 13 June 2000 at her London home, your immediate thought would be of her long crusade against factory farming. But you could also think of Henry Salt, Mahatma Gandhi, George Bernard Shaw, Rachel Carson & Richard Ryder—movers & shakers, all.
Harrison was one of them & together they ushered in the modern era of animal protection—call it what you “welfare” or “rights” (Ruth preferred the former, even tho she is thought of in the context of “rights”).
She was catapulted into that league of reformers with her '64 book, Animal Machines, a faultlessly documented & indignant assault on the excruciatingly intensive housing of veal calves, chickens & pigs. When she learned that no one else was speaking out against these atrocities, she dropped everything & began her book. She was following Rachel Carson’s path in writing Silent Spring because no one else wanted to expose pesticide dangers.
She visited these heart-breaking prisons, especially those of crated, infant, male dairy calves taken from their mothers soon after birth, tethered in small, dark stalls, not allowed to suckle anything, given little water, fed antibiotics & iron deficient artificial milk to fatten them & keep them anaemic so they could be killed at 12 weeks to fill the plates & satisfy the palates of customer-preferred, tender, white meat. She also described in detail the overcrowding of caged laying hens, broilers & pigs.
Ruth pointed to the economic forces behind it all. “Life in the factory farm,” she wrote, “revolves entirely around profits, & animals are accessed purely for their ability to convert food into flesh or ‘saleable products’.” She also reported on the feeding of antibiotics, growth stimulants, hormones & tranquilizers with no regard to the consequences to the human consumer.
She sent her completed manuscript to Rachel Carson, whom she had never met, & asked her to write the foreword. So stunned by what she read, Rachel asked a mutual friend, Christine Stevens, “could it be true?” Christine replied, “Indeed, it is true” & encouraged her to write the foreword. In it, Rachel expressed hope that the book would “provoke feelings of dismay, revulsion & outrage” calling for consumer revolt.
Carson’s endorsement, a good publisher, her husband’s graphic photos & serialization in a London newspaper helped to spread the word. The public reaction was so intense that the Ministry of Agriculture ordered an investigation chaired by Prof. F.W.R. Brambell. The Brambell Report led to an Act of Parliament governing farm animal welfare. It wasn’t long before the veal crates were abolished & better conditions were provided for chickens & pigs.
Despite her modest manner, Ruth was a genuine “whistle blower.” But she never dreamed that her “radical” efforts would be rewarded by inclusion in the 1986 Queen’s Order of the British Empire honor’s list. In her youth, she had dreamed, however, of a career in the theatre. That dream was interrupted by World War II hospital service in the Friends Ambulance Corps post-war service in Germany. But soon thereafter she graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her career as an actress & director was on its way—helped by coaching from by a neighbor, George Bernard Shaw. Also, she absorbed his views on a hypocritical society, especially when it came to fox hunting & meat eating.
Her father, Stephen Winsten, was a friend of Shaw’s & authored three books about his life. Both men looked to animals’ greatest unsung iconoclast, vegetarian, author of Animals Rights, Henry Salt (1851-1939). (Gandhi was inspired by Salt & Henry Thoreau in throwing off the British Rule of India. Gandhi entered Ruth’s life when her mother, Clare Winsten, painted his portrait.)
Her promising theatrical career met a roadblock when she received a leaflet on the plight of veal calves. Not only did that permanent detour lead to reforms in England, but in many other European countries. (Her book was published in seven countries & was the inspiration for the European Convention for the Protection of Animals Kept for Farming Purposes.)
Animal Machines also lit the fuse for greater animal advocacy when a group of British scholars in 1971 wrote Animals, Men & An Enquiry into the Maltreatment of Non-humans. Ruth’s essay opened the book which also included a chapter by Richard Ryder who coined the term “speciesism.”
Up until her death from cancer she was deeply involved in the development & acceptance of alternative methods of raising meat animals. Helping her in this were several animal behaviorists, as well as Diane Halverson, AWI Farm Animal Advisor & her sister Marlene of Northfield, Minnesota.
Her honors, numerous affiliations & many contributions to animal welfare—such as blowing the whistle on the cruel electrocution methods of euthan...
Harrison was one of them & together they ushered in the modern era of animal protection—call it what you “welfare” or “rights” (Ruth preferred the former, even tho she is thought of in the context of “rights”).
She was catapulted into that league of reformers with her '64 book, Animal Machines, a faultlessly documented & indignant assault on the excruciatingly intensive housing of veal calves, chickens & pigs. When she learned that no one else was speaking out against these atrocities, she dropped everything & began her book. She was following Rachel Carson’s path in writing Silent Spring because no one else wanted to expose pesticide dangers.
She visited these heart-breaking prisons, especially those of crated, infant, male dairy calves taken from their mothers soon after birth, tethered in small, dark stalls, not allowed to suckle anything, given little water, fed antibiotics & iron deficient artificial milk to fatten them & keep them anaemic so they could be killed at 12 weeks to fill the plates & satisfy the palates of customer-preferred, tender, white meat. She also described in detail the overcrowding of caged laying hens, broilers & pigs.
Ruth pointed to the economic forces behind it all. “Life in the factory farm,” she wrote, “revolves entirely around profits, & animals are accessed purely for their ability to convert food into flesh or ‘saleable products’.” She also reported on the feeding of antibiotics, growth stimulants, hormones & tranquilizers with no regard to the consequences to the human consumer.
She sent her completed manuscript to Rachel Carson, whom she had never met, & asked her to write the foreword. So stunned by what she read, Rachel asked a mutual friend, Christine Stevens, “could it be true?” Christine replied, “Indeed, it is true” & encouraged her to write the foreword. In it, Rachel expressed hope that the book would “provoke feelings of dismay, revulsion & outrage” calling for consumer revolt.
Carson’s endorsement, a good publisher, her husband’s graphic photos & serialization in a London newspaper helped to spread the word. The public reaction was so intense that the Ministry of Agriculture ordered an investigation chaired by Prof. F.W.R. Brambell. The Brambell Report led to an Act of Parliament governing farm animal welfare. It wasn’t long before the veal crates were abolished & better conditions were provided for chickens & pigs.
Despite her modest manner, Ruth was a genuine “whistle blower.” But she never dreamed that her “radical” efforts would be rewarded by inclusion in the 1986 Queen’s Order of the British Empire honor’s list. In her youth, she had dreamed, however, of a career in the theatre. That dream was interrupted by World War II hospital service in the Friends Ambulance Corps post-war service in Germany. But soon thereafter she graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her career as an actress & director was on its way—helped by coaching from by a neighbor, George Bernard Shaw. Also, she absorbed his views on a hypocritical society, especially when it came to fox hunting & meat eating.
Her father, Stephen Winsten, was a friend of Shaw’s & authored three books about his life. Both men looked to animals’ greatest unsung iconoclast, vegetarian, author of Animals Rights, Henry Salt (1851-1939). (Gandhi was inspired by Salt & Henry Thoreau in throwing off the British Rule of India. Gandhi entered Ruth’s life when her mother, Clare Winsten, painted his portrait.)
Her promising theatrical career met a roadblock when she received a leaflet on the plight of veal calves. Not only did that permanent detour lead to reforms in England, but in many other European countries. (Her book was published in seven countries & was the inspiration for the European Convention for the Protection of Animals Kept for Farming Purposes.)
Animal Machines also lit the fuse for greater animal advocacy when a group of British scholars in 1971 wrote Animals, Men & An Enquiry into the Maltreatment of Non-humans. Ruth’s essay opened the book which also included a chapter by Richard Ryder who coined the term “speciesism.”
Up until her death from cancer she was deeply involved in the development & acceptance of alternative methods of raising meat animals. Helping her in this were several animal behaviorists, as well as Diane Halverson, AWI Farm Animal Advisor & her sister Marlene of Northfield, Minnesota.
Her honors, numerous affiliations & many contributions to animal welfare—such as blowing the whistle on the cruel electrocution methods of euthan...
186 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2013
7 people are currently reading
793 people want to read
About the author
Ruth Harrison
12 books2 followersRuth Harrison OBE was an English animal welfare activist and writer.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 21, 2021
It was strengthening in my conviction to try to be vegan.
9/21/21
And I am still, and for forever, vegan.
9/21/21
And I am still, and for forever, vegan.
August 13, 2021
Stop be stupid
October 7, 2008
The first demonstration my little brother ever went to was a protest at the Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge against the showing of a hunting film. A score or two of us marched outside with handmade posters. So powerful was the vegetarian sentiment amongst young people in town that our infiltrated local Burger King had a vegetarian menu--Vegie Whoppers for 25 cents! The book circulated amongst us which probably had the greatest influence was Ruth Harrison's Animal Machines, a rather upsetting portrayal of the factory farming business.
January 19, 2026
Absolutely ahead of time! What Ruth described in the book of late 60's, unfortunately still applies and animal farming hasn't changed much on animal welfare. In case you are anyone from meat eater to vegan, working in animal production, or you are interested in sustainability, food quality, environment, and animal rights and welfare, ... Ruth will talk to you!
Must read!
Must read!
April 25, 2023
3.5 - As much a critique of food quality and safety as animal welfare. Ground breaking at the time.
March 2, 2015
Ruth Harrison (1920-2000), a Quaker and lifetime vegetarian, had felt a moral responsibility to help factory-farmed animals. A vital insight that developed from her work was the importance of a fully integrated approach to ‘animal welfare’ in which concerns such as environmental impact and human health are taken alongside each other. She observed that the incidences of degenerative diseases were rising at an alarming rate and recognised that human health and wellbeing were directly related to animal health and wellbeing. Her remarkable book is composed of facts, photographs and reporting on what she witnessed on visits to factory farms in England in the 60s. Comparisons are included with factory farms in America and Europe.
In her book Ruth pointed out the inconsistency of how one person being unkind to one animal is considered a cruelty but where a lot of people are unkind to a lot of animals, especially in the name of commerce, the cruelty is condoned and, once large sums of money are at stake, will be defended - by wilful hypocrisy and justification - to the last by otherwise intelligent people.
She further explained how some may find it easy to lull their consciences when only animals are concerned, but that the issues under discussion extend beyond conscience and impinge in the most practical manner on the physical well-being of the human race in so far as the food provided by these means is not only inferior but dangerous!
The conclusion Ruth formed was that “meat eating has become a hazard” as a direct result of factory-farming methods and their dependence on abnormal environments, unnatural feeding, genetic modification, antibiotics, hormones, tranquillizers and drugs.
A Second Edition of Animal Machines was launched in March, 2013 at Oxford University and includes a description of the reaction to Ruth’s book. It was serialized in a major British newspaper and caused an immediate expression of shock and outrage from the public who realised that they were supporting institutionalised cruelty through their grocery purchases and poisoning themselves with unsafe food at the same time.
In response to the furore, the government had set up the Bramble Committee to investigate “the welfare of animals kept under intensive livestock husbandry systems”. The creation and funding of animal welfare research in the UK resulted from the influence of this report and Ruth’s book.
Ruth had concluded that ‘most sickness could be prevented by the right feeding of the people.’
How far have we got to where? (less)
In her book Ruth pointed out the inconsistency of how one person being unkind to one animal is considered a cruelty but where a lot of people are unkind to a lot of animals, especially in the name of commerce, the cruelty is condoned and, once large sums of money are at stake, will be defended - by wilful hypocrisy and justification - to the last by otherwise intelligent people.
She further explained how some may find it easy to lull their consciences when only animals are concerned, but that the issues under discussion extend beyond conscience and impinge in the most practical manner on the physical well-being of the human race in so far as the food provided by these means is not only inferior but dangerous!
The conclusion Ruth formed was that “meat eating has become a hazard” as a direct result of factory-farming methods and their dependence on abnormal environments, unnatural feeding, genetic modification, antibiotics, hormones, tranquillizers and drugs.
A Second Edition of Animal Machines was launched in March, 2013 at Oxford University and includes a description of the reaction to Ruth’s book. It was serialized in a major British newspaper and caused an immediate expression of shock and outrage from the public who realised that they were supporting institutionalised cruelty through their grocery purchases and poisoning themselves with unsafe food at the same time.
In response to the furore, the government had set up the Bramble Committee to investigate “the welfare of animals kept under intensive livestock husbandry systems”. The creation and funding of animal welfare research in the UK resulted from the influence of this report and Ruth’s book.
Ruth had concluded that ‘most sickness could be prevented by the right feeding of the people.’
How far have we got to where? (less)
December 20, 2007
If you've read about the chemical alteration of food to create taste and aesthetic appeal or the mass (de)assembly of live animals in factory farms, then "Animal Machines" will take you back to the UK in the early 1960's where these newly found forms of mass production were created. It explains the animal cruelty of the newly founded factory farm, looks at the ways meats, cheeses, and eggs were chemically altered to look and taste better, the conditions that lead to the mass industrialization of animal agriculture, and the drive for profit over the lives of sentient beings. It's a history and a little dry at times, but fascinating as a historical document revealing where the current mass production food industry originated.
February 12, 2017
Prophetic. Fast read. Very useful for insight into how we got where we now are.
July 8, 2025
Animal welfare professor recommended it. I now see why! Very informative and still relevant today! Awesome
April 1, 2016
A reality about modern animal farming and the pioneer of animal welfare concept.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews