The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights: Simple Acts of Kindness to Help Animals in Trouble
By Ingrid Newkirk
Full of useful advice and compelling stories, this book is a good starting point for anyone interested in showing and promoting compassion towards animals. From her years of experience on the front lines, PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk guides the way to a world in which all animals live free from harm. This book explains what PETA is all about.
The Animal Activists‘ Handbook: Maximizing Our Positive Impact in Today’s World
By Matt Ball and Bruce Friedrich
Matt Ball and Bruce Friedrich offer interesting insights drawn from over 20 years of working for animals. Ball is co-founder of Vegan Outreach, one of the most prominent organisations in the animal rights field. In this guide, he shares practical tips to help you promote animal rights in a more considered way.
Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism
By Mark Hawthorne
This book is a comprehensive introduction to the most important activities in animal activism – from writing letters to staging protests – and will be useful for both beginners and experienced activists.
Animal Impact: Secrets Proven to Achieve Results and Move the World
By Caryn Ginsberg
Caryn Ginsberg offers useful and not-so-obvious tips on how to think about animal advocacy, how to plan your actions, and which habits to break. This book will help you design your actions in a more structured way and improve your results.
Strategic Action for Animals: A Handbook on Strategic Movement Building, Organizing, and Activism for Animal Liberation
By Melanie Joy
This short book provides useful advice for setting up and running an animal rights organisation. It covers the issues you may encounter at various stages, provides models for social change, and explores debates within the animal advocacy movement (such as animal rights vs animal welfare). This valuable resource offers much food for thought.
How to Win Campaigns: Communications for Change
By Chris Rose
If you’re interested in running campaigns, this book should be your bible. It will help you plan your campaign and – most importantly – finish it successfully.
The China Study: Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health
By T Colin Campbell and Thomas M Campbell II
The China Study, named after one of the first large-scale studies on the impact of nutrition on health, looks at the connection between consuming animal-derived foods and developing chronic medical conditions.
The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy – and Why They Matter
By Marc Bekoff
With lots of scientific evidence and numerous examples from the animal world, Marc Bekoff proves beyond a doubt that animals are individuals with not only a high level of intelligence but also a wide range of emotions.
Change of Heart: What Psychology Can Teach Us About Spreading Social Change
By Nick Cooney
Social psychology meets animal rights activism in Nick Cooney’s first book. He draws on both recent and classic studies to explain how social change works and what activists can do to reach people more effectively. It may be uncomfortable reading for some, as it challenges our assumptions, but it is a must-read for anyone who is serious about animal rights activism.
Veganomics: The Surprising Science on What Motivates Vegetarians, From the Breakfast Table to the Bedroom
By Nick Cooney
Nick Cooney’s second book focuses on numbers. Drawing on scientific studies, he analyses what motivates people to go vegetarian or vegan as well as the reasons why three-quarters of those who go vegetarian will at some point start eating meat again.
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
By Chip Heath and Dan Heath
If you want to learn how to reach people more effectively with your message, this is the book for you. It explains how to communicate to get your message heard and how to make it „stick“.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
By Robert B Cialdini
Influence is an absolute must-read if you want to learn how to persuade people to follow your ideas and how to avoid being manipulated by others.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
By Dale Carnegie
When it comes to the topic of influencing people, this book is a classic. With insightful anecdotes and stories from his own experience, Dale Carnegie provides useful tips for getting people to do what you want them to do. This is a great resource for anyone interested in vegan outreach.
Meatonomics: How the Rigged Economics of Meat and Dairy Make You Consume Too Much and How to Eat Better, Live Longer, and Spend Smarter
By David Robinson Simon
Meatonomics deals with a topic not often tackled by the animal rights movement: the externalisation of meat production costs. Animals are not the only victims of cheap meat – humans and the environment are harmed, too. This book shows that if the hidden costs of meat were included, its retail price would be considerably higher.
Green Is the New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under Siege
By Will Potter
Will Potter’s book is an account of the tactics used to criminalise animal rights activists in the US, including by passing „ag-gag“ laws. It offers food for thought for anyone who wants a broader picture of how the state opposes progressive social movements.
Aftershock: Confronting Trauma in a Violent World – A Guide for Activists and Their Allies
By Pattrice Jones
Aftershock tackles a topic that rarely gets the attention it deserves: trauma and burnout. Do you feel like you have to work 18 hours a day because animals are worse off than you? Do you constantly push yourself to do more, even though you really need some downtime? And do you still want to be a part of the animal rights movement in 20 years? If so, you definitely need to read this book.
The Lifelong Activist: How to Change the World Without Losing Your Way
By Hilary Rettig
This self-help book explores how to make your activism more sustainable. If your approach is one of self-sacrifice, you will find some useful ideas on how to develop healthier attitudes to your work. Hilary Rettig provides valuable suggestions on time-management and effective ways of being an advocate for animals. This is a comprehensive guide to being – and remaining – an animal rights activist.
Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism
By Melanie Joy
Melanie Joy’s book is an introduction to the question of why people eat meat. She introduces the idea that although not eating meat is an ideology (and many people view the choice this way), eating it is an ideology, too – but one that has such a vast following that it has become invisible. Joy refers to this invisible belief system as „carnism“, a concept that has won her acclaim in the animal rights field.
Swarmwise: The Tactical Manual to Changing the World
By Rick Falkvinge
Rick Falkvinge’s online book is the ultimate guide to gathering people around your idea and building up a grassroots organisation from scratch.
Look for Me Under the Rainbow
by Bernard Jan
Croatian author and animal rights advocate Bernard Jan tells the thought-provoking story of a young harp seal named Danny, encouraging especially younger adolescents to develop compassion and empathy for animals. A suitable read for schoolchildren and grown-ups who have kept their inner child alive, this poignant short novel will help readers see the world through the eyes of those who don’t speak our language.
Other Resources
Vegan Outreach’s ‚Adopt a College‘ Program
Vegan Outreach staff members and volunteers are the pros when it comes to leafleting. Who would know better how to distribute leaflets effectively than an organisation which focuses only on this kind of intervention?
https://veganoutreach.org/leafleting/
‚Effective Advocacy: Planning for Success‘
By PETA US
PETA US‘ comprehensive guide to effective activism covers everything from how to organise a demonstration to how to talk with your family at the dinner table. It has been prepared by seasoned activists and will help you learn from their mistakes.
http://www.mediapeta.com/peta/PDF/EffectiveAdvocacyGuide_FINAL300.pdf