Equine Medicine and Popular Romance in Late Medieval England explores a seldom-studied trove of English veterinary manuals, illuminating how the daily care of horses they describe reshapes our understanding of equine representation in the popular romance of late medieval England. A saint removes a horse’s leg the more easily to shoe him; a wild horse transforms spur wounds into the self-healing practice of bleeding; a messenger calculates time through his horse’s body. Such are the rich and conflicted visions of horse/human connection in the period. Exploring this imagined relation, Francine McGregor reveals a cultural undercurrent in which medieval England is so reliant on equine bodies that human anxieties, desires, and very orientation in daily life are often figured through them. This book illuminates the complex and contradictory yearnings shaping medieval perceptions of the horse, the self, and the identities born of their affinity.

Animals have featured in the lives and cultures of the people of Merseyside since the dawn of time, and in so many ways. Beastly Merseyside describes this, and tells wonderful stories about these animals, and about the roles they have played. Horses have carried us and our weaponry into battle for millennia, right up to the wars of the twentieth century. They have ploughed our fields, carried our goods, and pulled our carts, wagons, carriages, stagecoaches, canal barges, buses, trams, and ambulances. We have been racing horses on Merseyside for centuries. We have hunted animals for food, from rabbits and ducks to those great leviathans of the sea, the whales. Liverpool's whaling fleet was once one of the most important in Britain. We have also hunted, and in some cases still hunt, animals simply for 'sport'. This has included dog-fighting, cockfighting, bear and bull baiting, as well as fox hunting, hare coursing, and shooting. Animals have entertained us on the streets, in the days of dancing bears and organ grinders' monkeys; in circuses; and in the very many zoos we have had on Merseyside, again over many centuries. Animals have also rescued us, provided comfort to us, and helped us to see and hear. In Beastly Merseyside, popular local historian Ken Pye tells tales about the likes of Mickey the Chimp, Liverpool's own 'King Kong'; the execution of Rajah the Elephant; Pongo the Man Monkey; the amazing Hale Duck Decoy; the 'Lion in the Wheelbarrow'; the nineteenth-century Knowsley Great Aviary and the modern safari park; and why and how the Liver Bird became the emblem of Liverpool. Full of well-researched, informative, and entertaining facts, this book really shows just how vital a role animals of all kinds have played, and continue to play, in our lives and communities.

Birds have inspired people since the dawn of time. They are the notes behind Mozart's genius, the colours behind Audubon's art and ballet's swansong. In The Birds They Sang, Stanislaw Lubienski sheds light on some of history's most meaningful bird and human interactions, from historical bird watchers in a German POW camp, to Billy and Kes in A Kestrel for a Knave. He muses on what exactly Hitchcock's birds had in mind, and reveals the true story behind the real James Bond. Undiscouraged by damp, discomfort and a reed bunting's curse, Lubienski bears witness to the difficulties birds face today as people fail to accommodate them in rapidly changing times. A soaring exploration of our fascination with birds, The Birds They Sang opens a vast realm of astonishing sounds, colours and meanings - a complete world in which we humans are never alone.

Fear and fascination set wasps apart from other insects. Despite their iconic form and distinctive colours, they are surrounded by myth and misunderstanding. Often portrayed in cartoon-like stereotypes bordering on sad parody, wasps have an unwelcome and undeserved reputation for aggressiveness bordering on vindictive spite. This mistrust is deep-seated in a human history that has awarded commercial and spiritual value to other insects, such as bees, but has failed to recognize any worth in wasps. Leading entomologist Richard Jones redresses the balance in this enlightening and entertaining guide to the natural and cultural history of these powerful carnivores. Jones delves into their complex nesting and colony behavior, their unique caste system and their major role at the centre of many food webs. Drawing on up-to-date scientific concepts and featuring many striking colour illustrations, Jones successfully shows exactly why wasps are worthy of greater understanding and appreciation.

HOW NATURE MATTERS presents an original theory of nature's value based on part-whole relations. James argues that when natural things have cultural value, they do not always have it as means to valuable ends. In many cases, they have value as parts of valuable wholes - as parts of traditions, for instance, or cultural identities. James develops his theory by investigating twelve real-world cases, ranging from the veneration of sacred trees to the hunting of dugongs. He also analyses some key policy-related debates and explores various fundamental issues in environmental philosophy, including the question of whether anything on earth qualifies as natural. This accessible, engagingly written book will be essential reading for all those who wish to understand the moral and metaphysical dimensions of environmental issues.

Humans and nonhuman animals engage with each other in a multitude of fascinating ways. They have always done so, motivated by both necessity and choice. Yet, as human population numbers increase and our impact on the planet expands, this engagement takes on new meanings and requires new understanding.In Engaging with Animals: Interpretations of a Shared Existence experts in the field of human-animal studies investigate, from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, the ways in which humans and other animals interact. Grouped into three broad sections, the chapters focus on themes ranging from attitudes, ethics and interactions to history, art and literature, and finally animal welfare outcomes. While offering different interpretations of human-non-human interactions, they share a common goal in attempting to find pathways leading to a mutually beneficial and shared co-existence.