Circles of Compassion: Connecting Issues of Justice

I acquired this compilation of essays at one of Dr. Tuttle’s events. While academic in parts and sometimes uneven, there were several stories to which I really connected. You'll note that as the essays are compiled alphabetically (rather than weaving a theme) many of these are in the middle or second half of the book. The ones I connected to the most including compositions by:Christopher-Sebastian McJetters, whose plain speech and straightforward ideas I found appealing.David Nibert, whom I had the honor of talking to at a potluck once and whose ideas have really stuck with me.Anthony J. Nocella II, whose essay was provocative and questioned vegan assumptions.lauren Ornelas, with her vivid and effective descriptions and connections.Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, with relatable experiences and a permeating positivity to her writing.Marla Rose, with such a simple and powerful analogy.And Zoe Weil, with practical intersectional suggestions and thoughts.Interesting ideas - a nice collection. Worthwhile for anyone interested in thinking further about intersectional compassion themes.

An excellent bunch of essays on the interconnected nature of domination, exploitation and oppression of humans toward: people in poverty in the US and developing countries, women, children, animals (or nonhuman animals as all beings are animals) and the environment. I wish they included more about the environmental issues too including the pollution from the developed countries' frenzy to acquire and develop, or consumerism. The focus was on the exploitation and outright torture of nonhuman animals, largely through farmed animals. However, some countries decimate the wild and endangered animals too, the US does too. It was obvious to me from my research one of the big steps we as human beings need to take to begin to reverse this and climate change. Governments need to focus on the solutions too instead of continuing to ignore the problem. The only way they will do that is if the public makes them. We need to take action. We need to be the change we want to see.

Several activists in the vegan movement graciously share wisdom and insight into freedom from all forms of oppression by adopting compassionate plant-based eating and lifestyle.

I have so far read half of the book. It is absolutely riveting and devastatingly eye-opening. The daily choices we make about what to eat have such far-reaching impact on the planet, the animals, and hungry humans. The essays are extremely well-written, and the subject matter is crucially important to our lives and the lives of others. Each piece "connects the dots" among various seemingly unrelated challenges facing our world. To see the role of our food choices is to truly wake up to our place in this world. Please read this book and meditate on its teachings.

There is a lot of good material in this book, but it is poorly edited. A number of the essays are very repetitive and they vary a lot in quality of writing. In those cases where the authors disagreed with each other, it might have been profitable to allow those authors to respond to each other.Basic fact checking would have been helpful; for example, one author places the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1968. Some of the authors identify the animals rights movement as European in origin, when, in fact, it has roots that go back to ancient Asia.

Gifted it to University student taking Intersectionality studies course in college

Good book.

What a refreshing read! I could not put down this book. I look forward to reading it many times over.