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Sheep of Fools
Sheep Of Fools describes the desperate and cruel economic phenomenon of "live transport" (sheep being transported across oceans to be slaughtered). Illustrated by Sue Coe's powerful images, her true 'yarn' harkens back to the beginning of the "Wool Mart", through which the British refined their Parliamentary system, its rules, and dispersal of power.
- Coe has been one of America's most engaged political artists of the last 30 years
- Coe is an award-winning illustrator with work published in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Nation and more.
- Coe has been one of America's most engaged political artists of the last 30 years
- Coe is an award-winning illustrator with work published in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Nation and more.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published November 14, 2005
27 people want to read
About the author
Sue Coe
32 books32 followersSue Coe grew up next to a slaughterhouse in Liverpool. She studied at the Royal College of Art in London and left for New York in 1972. Early in her career, she was featured in almost every issue of Art Spiegelman’s groundbreaking magazine Raw, and has since contributed illustrations to the New York Times, the New Yorker, The Nation, Entertainment Weekly, Time, Details, The Village Voice, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Esquire and Mother Jones, among other publications. Her previous books include Dead Meat (winner of the 1991 Genesis Award) and Cruel. Among her many awards are the Dickinson College Arts Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Caucus for Art, and a National Academy of Arts Award (2009).
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 13, 2010
Another stunning work from artist Sue Coe, examining the sheep trade. Coe’s artwork reflects the world as it is: a brutal, gruesome, and ugly experience for the meek and the powerless. Here, there are no fantasy barnyards, no fields of buttercups for the lambs to play in.
For better or worse, the book is written in poetry; as can be expected, some of the rhymes overreach to tell the story. I found the footnotes rather distracting. The pictures themselves are all that’s needed to paint a haunting and evocative story, although it helps to know something about the subject matter beforehand.
That subject is the Australian phenomenon of live transport—in which live sheep are carried on huge ships to Middle Eastern meat markets. Viewing photographs of the transport practices online, I can see that Coe hit the issue spot-on. I found myself most affected by some of the smaller, easier-to-miss images in the book. A single black lamb standing amidst the confusion of an abattoir. The limp body of a sheep who had fallen from a great height while being unloaded from the multi-tiered ship. Of course, most of Coe’s images are in macro, showing great roiling masses of life—a two page spread showing the continents represented by bewildered -looking animals (some real, some imaginary) is brilliant.
For better or worse, the book is written in poetry; as can be expected, some of the rhymes overreach to tell the story. I found the footnotes rather distracting. The pictures themselves are all that’s needed to paint a haunting and evocative story, although it helps to know something about the subject matter beforehand.
That subject is the Australian phenomenon of live transport—in which live sheep are carried on huge ships to Middle Eastern meat markets. Viewing photographs of the transport practices online, I can see that Coe hit the issue spot-on. I found myself most affected by some of the smaller, easier-to-miss images in the book. A single black lamb standing amidst the confusion of an abattoir. The limp body of a sheep who had fallen from a great height while being unloaded from the multi-tiered ship. Of course, most of Coe’s images are in macro, showing great roiling masses of life—a two page spread showing the continents represented by bewildered -looking animals (some real, some imaginary) is brilliant.
February 7, 2026
This book is disturbingly under-reviewed
The book is an illustrated poem. I would not call it a children's book, though it may look like one. It is a history of the emergence of Capitalism through its origins from the Enclosures, spurred on by nobles' investments in the wool trade
The writing demonstrates effort, not just simple rhymes, and uses terminology that reflects a studied knowledge of the material. The illustrations are beautiful, though their content may be disturbing. Certainly nothing too graphic for a high-schooler
An excellent resource to a) prompt further investigation into particulars of the history, or b) remind how the throughline connects all of us into the bigger picture of history
The book is an illustrated poem. I would not call it a children's book, though it may look like one. It is a history of the emergence of Capitalism through its origins from the Enclosures, spurred on by nobles' investments in the wool trade
The writing demonstrates effort, not just simple rhymes, and uses terminology that reflects a studied knowledge of the material. The illustrations are beautiful, though their content may be disturbing. Certainly nothing too graphic for a high-schooler
An excellent resource to a) prompt further investigation into particulars of the history, or b) remind how the throughline connects all of us into the bigger picture of history
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews