The City Is More Than Human: An Animal History of Seattle

Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books

by Frederick L. Brown

Winner of the 2017 Virginia Marie Folkins Award, Association of King County Historical Organizations (AKCHO)
Winner of the 2017 Hal K. Rothman Book Prize, Western History Association

Seattle would not exist without animals. Animals have played a vital role in shaping the city from its founding amid existing indigenous towns in the mid-nineteenth century to the livestock-friendly town of the late nineteenth century to the pet-friendly, livestock-averse modern city.

When newcomers first arrived in the 1850s, they hastened to assemble the familiar cohort of cattle, horses, pigs, chickens, and other animals that defined European agriculture. This, in turn, contributed to the dispossession of the Native residents of the area. However, just as various animals were used to create a Euro-American city, the elimination of these same animals from Seattle was key to the creation of the new middle-class neighborhoods of the twentieth century. As dogs and cats came to symbolize home and family, Seattleites' relationship with livestock became distant and exploitative, demonstrating the deep social contradictions that characterize the modern American metropolis.

Throughout Seattle's history, people have sorted animals into categories and into places as a way of asserting power over animals, other people, and property. In The City Is More Than Human , Frederick Brown explores the dynamic, troubled relationship humans have with animals. In so doing he challenges us to acknowledge the role of animals of all sorts in the making and remaking of cities.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Animals

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2016

Reviews

[Cali]

read for environmental history course ✌️

s/o specifically to this sentence: As one critic of urban cows wrote, "There is politics in letting the poor man's cow stay out and make herself a nuisance." never thought i'd know so much about the history of domestic urban animals.

[JKC · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing wrong with this book, per se, if you are looking for a research book. So what I mean by that is, this is results of research/study and reads as such. I find that with such books, you get all the information you need in the introduction and the rest of the book is simply citing evidence. So I read the introduction and it was very interesting - the way humans categorize animals; the way we treat livestock vs. pets and how we create distance from livestock in order to eat it whereas we treat pets like our children. And such. That's great stuff and very valid. But I didn't need to keep reading after that as the research style of writing to me is a bit dry.

[Ryan Ehrhart]

Blasted through this in 24 hours following a devastatingly busy Week 1 and 2.

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frederick Brown tracks how human attitudes towards animals changed and developed in Seattle from mid-nineteenth century settlement through to the present day. The chapters cover different types of animals and they largely unfold chronologically. The first white settlers, for example, relied on livestock as a source of food and wealth. They considered them a symbol of progress and evidence of success in their self-professed civilizing mission to conquer the untamed wilderness of the American West. By 1900 the rising urban, white collar, middle-class pushed livestock outside of Seattle’s bounds. There was no room for cows in their conception of a modern city. The issue of public health figured prominently in the arguments these Progressive Era reformers. Horses, on the other hand, were somewhat the reverse of livestock. As beasts of burden, horses fit into the new city, for they served as visible signs of commerce and work. That is, until the rise of the automobile rendered them, too, incompatible with modernity and public health and safety standards. The history of the dog, from semi-wild beasts roaming the urban landscape to “fur babies” is particularly good. Brown calls attention to the fact that these shifting perceptions of modernity and views on the proper role of animals in our daily, urban lives ultimately culminate in a paradox. Cattle, chickens, and pigs really haven’t been removed from our daily lives, nor are we less reliant on them. They are as much a part of most people’s lives in the twenty-first century as in the nineteenth. Even our cats and dogs need them. Just look inside of your refrigerator!

[Trento · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was overall fairly interesting and very informative, but the presentation of the material left a little to be desired. Content was regularly repeated verbatim and in entire paragraphs, which I attribute partially to the way the author handled chronology. Rather than covering a consistent linear timeline end to end, Chapters were grouped by animal and would often loop back over eras at the start of each new chapter. While this did help cement some details, it also made for repetitive, dry reading.

[Mary Keen · Rating 5 out of 5]

(I didn't actually read all of this book due to lack of time, but choosing "read" is the only way to review parts i did read or scan.)

I scanned the text, but loved the old photos and paintings, especially those of cattle and horses, as well as the chickens, which are becoming legal and more popular.
Some interesting facts are the changes in laws, such as the leash law (with Humane Society pickups) and even a pooper scooper law.

[Clara Prizont · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read!! Really good balance of facts, analysis, statistics and anecdotes with awesome central themes to keep it moving. Everytime I picked this up I found myself drawn in. -1 star because women appeared as a bit of a white middle class monolith (I would have appreciated more attention to the race/class distinctions among women) and there were randomly repeating sentences. Definitely changes the way I see my city and animals in general!

[The Mad Mad Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely slow at times- the beginning was a big slog and the final chapter felt disjointed. However, the middle was exceptionally well written and absolutely fascinating. As someone who didn’t grow up in Seattle, I relished the opportunity to learn more about the historical facts and figures behind the city. The “name-dropping” of the famous people behind the city’s famous landmarks was the highlight for me.

[Harper Daisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good class book, it’s cool to look at the history of places through unusual lenses like this. This book is about the history of Seattle through the lense of human-animal relationships, and has a lot of insight into the way we have become disconnected from our resources and our world.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 / 5.0

Surprising Depth after Entertaining Soft Lecture. View of City History through its perception of itself and its interaction with wild and domesticated and pet animal population as society evolves and society matures.

[Keisha Akihary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still reading… but I heavily agree with another review: this is DRY. It’s not really narrative at all and Brown repeats himself a lot. Sometimes a paragraph is just comprised of a progression of facts and census stats.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-researched, but a bit on the dry side. Has a number of historical photos. Recommended for those interested in Seattle history. Probably not of interest to the casual reader.

[Maddie Beck · Rating 3 out of 5]

for school (HIST467)