Along with their many other proclivities, Victorians were obsessed by animals, and entertained the idea that they were completely sentient beings, even as those same Victorians kept themselves
busy making some of those sentient beings extinct. Given that their relationship included guilt as well as love, it is no wonder Victorians raised serious questions about possession of animals,
manipulating their lives and maintaining special knowledge of their bodies and habits. This collection of 14 essays details the combination of science and sentiment in that relationship (pet
memorials, hunting expeditions, animal-based fashions and literary metaphors), the contributions of sex and violence (rude domestic animals, horses and sexual dominance, whales and albatrosses
as market commodities), and sin and bestiality (animals as sites of imperial encounter, stray dogs and stray women, racialized crocodiles and tales of tigers). The result is both scholarly and
fun. Annotation 穢2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
