RAISING THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM

RAISING THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM: What Animals Can Teach us About the Social Origins of Tolerance and Friendship, is a rare gem in the nonfiction animal book-world because its (bestselling) author Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, is a true Animal Person.

Masson isn’t a mere "cat and dog person." He has an awareness of the entire spectrum of our relationship with nonhuman animals, and it comes through in his writing and his actions.

RAISING THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM chronicles an experiment Masson orchestrated in his home in New Zealand, where he brought together a handful of animals of different species to see if they would eventually become friends. The lessons he learned are about how different species go from enmity to amity, and his intention was to use his experiment as a way to glean information about how humans might make a similar transition.   

This is a short, easy-to-read book with some adorable pictures. It’s deceptive because within the simple story are a series of powerful messages about friendship with creatures who are different from you.

Buy it. Read it. Pass it on.