The founder and president of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, and bestselling author Gene Stone explore the wonders of animal life and offer tools for living more kindly toward them.
In the last few decades, a wealth of new information has emerged about who animals are—intelligent, aware, and empathetic. Studies show that animals are astounding beings with intelligence ... Show More
Aug 21
Jessica Riskin, "The Power of Life: The Invention of Biology and the Revolutionary Science of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck" (Penguin, 2026)
In the early nineteenth century, the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed the first evolutionary theory of life and, with it, a new science: biology. Yet for centuries, evolutionary theorists have endeavored to discredit Lamarck and his theory of self-transforming org ... Show More
1h 10m
Aug 18
Beronda L. Montgomery, "When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy" (Henry Holt & Co.)
The histories of trees in America are also the histories of Black Americans. Pecan trees were domesticated by an enslaved African named Antoine; sycamore trees were both havens and signposts for people trying to escape enslavement; poplar trees are historically associated with ly ... Show More
44m 53s
Aug 13
The New Modern Medicine: Disease, Evidence, and Epidemiological Medicine with Jonathan Fuller
Jonathan Fuller’s The New Modern Medicine: Disease, Evidence, and Epidemiological Medicine (Oxford UP, 2025) takes the reader on a philosophical tour through scientific medicine, visiting its distinctive problems, particularly problems brought about by the twentieth century fusio ... Show More
45m 14s
Oct 2023
Kendra Coulter, "Defending Animals: Finding Hope on the Front Lines of Animal Protection" (MIT Press, 2023)
Beloved dogs and cats. Magnificent horses and mountain gorillas. Curious chickens. What do we actually do to protect animals from harm—and is it enough? This engaging book provides a unique and eye-opening exploration of the world of animal protection as people defend diverse ani ... Show More
59m 14s
Jun 2020
Ingrid Newkirk Was a Deputy Sheriff Before She Founded PETA
<p>Ingrid Newkirk is the co-founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA. It may be America’s best-known animal rights organization thanks to legal sophistication, scientific seriousness, and off-the-wall publicity stunts like throwing fake blood on models wear ... Show More
34m 58s
Aug 2024
139. How PETA Made Radical Ideas Mainstream
<p>People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals founder Ingrid Newkirk has been badgering meat-eaters, fur-wearers, and circus-goers for more than 40 years. For a woman who’s leaving her liver to the president of France in her will, she sounds quite sensible when she tells Steve w ... Show More
1 h
Jan 2024
Martha C. Nussbaum, "Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility" (Simon & Schuster, 2022)
A revolutionary new theory and call to action on animal rights, ethics, and law from the renowned philosopher Martha C. Nussbaum.
Animals are in trouble all over the world. Whether through the cruelties of the factory meat industry, poaching and game hunting, habitat destruction ... Show More
51m 9s
Jun 2022
Sensing the World Anew Through Other Species
<p>Ed Yong’s new book, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/22/books/review-immense-world-animal-senses-ed-yong.html" target="_blank">“An Immense World,”</a> urges readers to break outside their “sensory bubble” to consider the unique ways that dogs, dolphins, mice and other ... Show More
45m 53s
Sep 2024
Ingrid Newkirk: Will humans ever go animal-free?
Stephen Sackur speaks to Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta). For five decades she has led the campaign to end human exploitation and abuse of animals. From food to fashion, to testing in laboratories, are we humans really capable of go ... Show More
22m 58s