Pit Bull: The Battle over an American Icon

Pit Bull: The Battle over an American Icon is a book about the history of pit bulls in the United States.[2]

Pit Bull: The Battle over an American Icon
AuthorBronwen Dickey
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience & Nature
PublisherKnopf[1]
Publication date
  • 10 May 2016
Media typePrint (hardback and paperback)
Pages336
ISBN9780307961761

Conception

Bronwen Dickey spent seven years researching with dog experts.[3][4][5] For Dickey's efforts she received death threats at book signings.[6][7]

Content

The book covers the history of the Pitbull, in the United States. It covers how the dog went from beloved family pet owned by likes of Teddy Roosevelt to demonized dog fighting animal owned by the likes of Ed Faron and -Michael Vick.

Reception

The book received a mostly positive reception from critics.[8][9][10]

This is a very good book... Ms. Dickey has earned her reputation as a first-rate reporter.” —The Wall Street Journal.[11]

"Terrific... [Dickey] does more than simply dispel the many myths around pit bulls; she strives to explore what those myths can tell us about ourselves. This beautifully written, heartbreaking book is not just for dog lovers — it's for anyone interested in race, class, history and the complexity of media narratives." —NPR[12]

Ms. Dickey not only writes about the ebb and flow of public fear and loathing, she takes the reader on a thoroughly comprehensible tour of genetics and behavioral science to explain why breeding never guarantees an individual dog's personality, and shouldn't be used to condemn it.... Picking out one breed to blame is neither warranted nor effective, and a reader of her book will be hard put to disagree." —The New York Times[13]

“Brilliant… A powerful and disturbing book that shows how the rise of the killer-pit bull narrative reflects many broader American anxieties and pathologies surrounding race, class, and poverty… A remarkable study of our capacities for cruelty and compassion toward dogs and other humans, and an eloquent argument for abandoning the fears and prejudices that have made pit bulls in particular the victims of mistreatment.” —Christian Science Monitor[14]

Anti pit bull advocates accused Bronwen Dickey of downplaying the potential danger of pit bull dogs.[15][16][17]

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gollark: Of course it does. It's important to know how susceptible your document is to frequency analysis if enciphered in certain ways.
gollark: Heavpoot wanted me to track "average letter frequency", and is also my alt sometimes, but that would be bad for performance probably.
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gollark: Maybe I'll implement an average word length function in minoteaur's editor, to spite you, then.

References
  1. "Nonfiction Book Review: Pit Bull: The Battle Over an American Icon by Bronwen Dickey. Knopf, $26.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-307-96176-1". Publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  2. "Getting to the Pit of the Bull: Bronwen Dickey on Canines and Conspiracies". Pointofinquiry.org. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  3. Rivero, Daniel. "The racist story behind the pit bull's fall from American icon to demon dog". Splinternews.com. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  4. "Fear, loathing, and the mythology of the pit bull: Bronwen Dickey on America's most divisive dog - Atlanta Magazine". Atlantamagazine.com. 16 May 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  5. "It's time to stop demonizing pit bulls". Washington Post. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  6. "An author says she hoped to advance the debate about pit bulls. Instead, she became a target". Washington Post. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  7. Klein, David. "Pit Bulls May or May Not Be Dangerous. But Bronwen Dickey Can Attest That Writing About Them Definitely Is". Indyweek.com. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  8. "PIT BULL by Bronwen Dickey - Kirkus Reviews". Kirkusreviews.com. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  9. "Pit Bull: The Battle over an American Icon - Manhattan Book Review". Manhattanbookreview.com. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  10. "Book Review: Pit Bull - The Battle over an American Icon". Thebark.com. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  11. Shipman, Pat (27 May 2016). "Breeding Contempt". Retrieved 5 September 2018 – via www.wsj.com.
  12. "Friend Or Fiend? 'Pit Bull' Explores The History Of America's Most Feared Dog". Npr.org. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  13. "Review: 'Pit Bull' Traces Path From Fighter to Pet to Demon". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  14. "'Pit Bull' aims to tell the story of a maligned breed". Christian Science Monitor. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  15. "Pit bull author's critics are off the leash – Shaffer". Newsobserver.com. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  16. Allgood, Evan. "How Both Sides of the Pit Bull Debate Get It Wrong". Thecut.com. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  17. "Pit Bulls: The Psychology of Breedism, Fear, and Prejudice". Psychology Today. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
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