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James McWilliams

James McWilliams

James McWilliams is an associate professor of history at Texas State University, San Marcos, and author of Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly.

PETA's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad History of Killing Animals

PETA's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad History of Killing Animals

The organization, which claims to be dedicated to the cause of animal rights, can't explain why its adoption rate is only 2.5 percent for dogs.… More »

Meat: What Big Agriculture and the Ethical Butcher Have in Common

Meat: What Big Agriculture and the Ethical Butcher Have in Common

The power that industrial agriculture has allows it to manipulate the rhetoric of alternative animal-based systems to its advantage.… More »

The Evidence for a Vegan Diet

The Evidence for a Vegan Diet

There's plenty of science to justify a plant-based diet, but the stories of personal transformation—curing diabetes, losing 100 pounds, living an active lifestyle—make the biggest impression.… More »

Hunting for Euphemisms: How We Trick Ourselves to Excuse Killing

Hunting for Euphemisms: How We Trick Ourselves to Excuse Killing

It's that time of the year again: In late autumn, a bunch of pieces on how hunting connects us to meat always appear -- but they're all wrong… More »

The Empathy Test: Why Nobody Cares About Horse Slaughter

The Empathy Test: Why Nobody Cares About Horse Slaughter

When Congress lifted a ban on slaughtering horses in the U.S. last week even PETA kept quiet. Here's one possible explanation.… More »

How PETA's Lawsuit Against Sea World Could End Factory Farming

How PETA's Lawsuit Against Sea World Could End Factory Farming

Expanding the Constitution to include animals that are non-human could lead us to reconsider how we treat the sentient mammals we farm… More »

McFib? The Conditions at McDonald's McRib Pork Supplier

McFib? The Conditions at McDonald's McRib Pork Supplier

The Humane Society has filed a complaint alleging that Smithfield Foods, McDonald's pork supplier, stuffs its pigs in tiny gestation crates… More »

Only When Meat Is Stigmatized Will Factory Farms Stop Thriving

Only When Meat Is Stigmatized Will Factory Farms Stop Thriving

An unfettered demand provides technological, political, and scientific incentives to produce all varieties of meat as efficiently as possible… More »

Should Urban Farmers Be Allowed to Slaughter Backyard Animals?

Should Urban Farmers Be Allowed to Slaughter Backyard Animals?

In Oakland, where officials are now overseeing a zoning update for urban agriculture, interest groups are preparing for a bloody battle… More »

The Locavore Movement's Mistake: Deregulating Animal Slaughter

The Locavore Movement's Mistake: Deregulating Animal Slaughter

Inexpertly killed animals suffer immensely. Better to keep this ugly process confined to slaughterhouses kept at a "graceful distance."… More »

The Dangerous Psychology of Factory Farming

The Dangerous Psychology of Factory Farming

A look at the mindset that enables farmers to kill thousands of animals and still consider themselves happy… More »

How 'Conscientious Carnivores' Ignore Meat's True Origins

How 'Conscientious Carnivores' Ignore Meat's True Origins

Supporting small farms without addressing the pain of the slaughter perpetuates desensitization—just as factory farms do… More »

The Meat Myth: Free-Range Isn't Always Safer

The Meat Myth: Free-Range Isn't Always Safer

Factory-farmed pork is hardly an ideal food—but pigs from small farms might be more likely to make you sick… More »

Foodies vs. Darwin: How Meat Eaters Ignore Science

Foodies vs. Darwin: How Meat Eaters Ignore Science

Savoring animals used to be acceptable—but then came evolution, genetics, and the study of non-human thought… More »

An Inconvenient Truth: Free-Range Meat Isn't 'Natural'

An Inconvenient Truth: Free-Range Meat Isn't 'Natural'

A case for why free-range animal agriculture resembles nature only as much as pornography resembles real sex… More »

B.R. Myers and the Myth of 'Sustainable' Food

B.R. Myers and the Myth of 'Sustainable' Food

The problem with the sustainable food movement? It's impossible to both fetishize taste and truly save the planet.… More »

The Genetically Modified Alfalfa Scare: Don't Panic

The Genetically Modified Alfalfa Scare: Don't Panic

It turns out that the doomsday scenario du jour—in which all organic alfalfa is contaminated—is highly unlikely… More »

Meat: Sometimes 'Sustainable,' Never Okay

Meat: Sometimes 'Sustainable,' Never Okay

Unless you're stranded with a pig on a desert island, an animal's capacity for suffering should trump desire for a BLT… More »

Why Free-Range Meat Isn't Much Better Than Factory-Farmed

Why Free-Range Meat Isn't Much Better Than Factory-Farmed

A writer rethinks his views on free-range animals—and concludes that even if field trumps factory, we shouldn't eat them at all… More »

Consider the Turkey

Consider the Turkey

The idea of the turkey as a dimwit capable of drowning in a rainstorm is a myth. If you learn where that white meat comes from, you might find a smart and social companion.… More »

Special Report
Curing What Ails the Health Care System Reuters Curing What Ails the Health Care System
The third installment of America the Fixable—an Atlantic special report Read more ›

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