Professor Andrew Linzey and Dr. Clair Linzey, Directors of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, titled Animal History – History as If Animals Mattered, to be of great interest. Marc Bekoff: Why is Animal History – History as If Animals Mattered an important book? Jacob Brandler: Animal History both builds upon and pioneers the rising momentum of animal history we’ve seen over the past few decades. Coming out the same year that the academic journal Animal History published its first issue, and fewer than 20 years since Harriet Ritvo described the “animal turn” in the humanities, Animal History calls upon over a decade of work to bring animal history to the fore. But it does so with an eye towards greater ethical compassion; it is not just animal history but history as if animals mattered.