The Ultimate Betrayal: Is There Happy Meat? Paperback – June 13, 2013

Of the books I've read on this subject, this one stands above the rest. The author maintains an approach that is kind toward the reader. Instead of berating people for consuming animal products (a sometimes offputting approach used by other authors), she comes from the angle that many people genuinely do care and want to do what's right. But they've been intentionally misinformed... by the meat industry.Learning what labels (organic, natural, free-range, cage-free, humane-raised, grass fed, sustainably caught, eco-friendly, etc.) REALLY mean was eye-opening. I thought I had labels mastered. Wow--I did not. Many labels are unregulated and completely dishonest, geared specifically to soothing peoples' conscience so the company can gain a larger profit margin by charging higher prices.She educates us on how the same barbaric mutilations and surgeries, without anesthesia or pain relief, are inflicted upon both conventionally-raised and organically-raised animals. She teaches how both often grow up in identical, horrible housing conditions (despite what package labels depict), and how both are slaughtered in the same commercial facilities.Though I'd previously studied the environmental impacts of livestock mass-production, I had no idea just how devastating it actually is, until now. While this book is an easy read, I feel like I've just gained the education of a university level class. I've learned a number of things that I had not been aware of, despite being a rather seasoned student on the subject. I thank Mrs. Bohanec for her impressively complete and professional research, and for bringing this mass of information to the public in one easy-to-read volume.If there is one aspect to be added, it's the untold cruelty of down and silk production. Please watch on-line videos of how down is brutally ripped from the chests and stomachs of geese and ducks, and how, if their skin is torn in the process, they are crudely sewn up with no pain relief. Silk worms are boiled alive. There are humane alternatives to both down and silk.An individual almost cannot finish this book without having grown in his/her ethics, humanity, and ability to make compassionate and wise choices. If you buy only one book on the subject, this is the one I recommend.

Is there any way in which "humane" meat, dairy, or eggs are better - for human health, the environment, or animals? In The Ultimate Betrayal, Hope Bohanec takes on this question. She presents surprising information that may shock consumers confused by myriad industry labels, such as "sustainable," "local," "natural," "free-range," "grass-fed," "cage-free," and "organic."The Ultimate Betrayal convincingly shows that feel-good buzzwords in animal agriculture are ploys to part consumers and their money. These terms also encourage those who desperately want to spare animal suffering and help the planet feel guiltless when they buy animal foods.The hard-hitting research in this book leaves no wiggle-room for the happy meat industry. Contrasting factory farms and their advertised humane alternatives, Hope demonstrates far more similarities than differences. She bases her conclusions on interviews, visits to both alternative farm animal businesses and animal sanctuaries, and a wealth of published research. While the book is rich with facts, it is also highly readable journalism, and a must-read for anyone who cares about animals, the planet, or their own health.

Excellent, insightful, compassionate book about a subject that our society needs very much to address. Far too many consumers have opted to continue (or return to) eating meat, dairy and eggs, thinking they (1) need it, and (2) are not contributing to animal suffering by making a well-meaning point of buying local, or "cage free" or "pastured" or "organic" products. Nearly all producers still castrate, dehorm, debeak, artificially inseminate, cull out young males, and ultimately send to slaughter at standard (cruel) facilities the animals they raise. Even raising your own or buying from a neighbor has ethical considerations when the truth is that you don't really need animal products to be healthy (in fact, the reverse seems to be true). Hope Bohanec is a courageous and well-spoken leader on this topic and I'm so grateful she wrote this important book.

This book is succinct, well organized and balanced. The author does a fantastic job of articulating why consuming animals and animal products harms everyone, non-human animal and human animal alike and the Earth. The interspersed stories of animals at sanctuaries provide a welcome relief from descriptions of the horrors animals face and the destruction that animal agriculture causes. This book is a must read for anyone who is concerned about non-human animals, human health and the environment.

In my opinion, one of the top books which expose the farm animal industry as well as making a great case for not killing animals for food (because meat of any kind is not needed in human nutrition at all).

I very much appreciate the thorough coverage of 3 main issues: animal welfare, environmental issues, human health. Lots of good references, many of them new to me.

I highly reccommend this book. It is well written and researched, and gives compelling reasons why so called "happy meat" is not any happier for the animals, the planet or our own health then so called "conventional meat."

This book is well written and has lots of facts and info on a topic that is so prevalent today. As if animals can ever be happy losing their lives for humans to eat. I recommend it for anyone who buys into the humane meat myth.

Good book quick delivery