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The Madcap World of Animal Festivals and What They Say about Being Human
by Elizabeth MeLampy
A raucous entry into animal festivals across America uncovers how humans triangulate who we are and what makes us special through the symbolism we attach to animals and the stories we use to rise above them.
As the gates open at the racetrack in Virginia City, Nevada, three camels stumble out, ridden by amateur jockeys. A crowd of roaring spectators looks on gleefully, but as the camels approach the first turn, one loses its footing and crashes to the ground. While the camel's handlers rush to calm the animal, the race's emcee calls out in defense of the jockey. "Check on Charlie!" he cries. "Forget the camel!"
The International Camel and Ostrich Races is just one of hundreds of animal festivals that take place around the world every year, each putting animals on display for humans to gawk at, demonize, or adore. But why? What value do these festivals and their rituals hold, and why when the animals are in distress do we insist that the show still must go on?
In Forget the Camel animal advocate and lawyer Elizabeth MeLampy meets the groundhogs, butterflies, rattlesnakes, lobsters, sled dogs, and other creatures we use to build community, instill fear, and transmit meaning. She shows how killing rattlesnakes in Texas represents a triumph over the Wild West; how massive lobster boils on Maine's Atlantic coast show solidarity with the working class; and how the celebration each February of a single groundhog reminds us of our reliance on nature. In the process, she presents a deft blend of reportage and personal narrative that raises profound questions about our human impulse to dominate and differentiate ourselves.
Certain to be appreciated by fans of Yuval Noah Harari, Mary Roach, and Sy Montgomery, Forget the Camel is an immersive entry into the sights, smells, tastes, and noise of animal festivals across the country, and a much-needed call for a kinder future.
"From Groundhog Day and the Jumping Frog Jubilee to the ostrich races in Nevada and the Maine Lobster Festival, Forget the Camel offers a funny, poignant, and compelling tour of the roles of animal festivals in the American cultural landscape. Elizabeth MeLampy uses these often wacky events to pose important questions—why do we adore some species and detest others, what is the connection between humor and cruelty, and what makes humans special? This is the rare book that can make you laugh, cry, and change the way you think." —Hal Herzog, author of Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals
"A fascinating and thought-provoking tour of animal-centered festivals around the United States. MeLampy thinks deeply and carefully about the animals she sees, revealing the gulf between our perceptions and the lived experiences of the creature at the center of our festivities. The result is a call for a different world, one where humans might see animals less as symbols, and more as organisms in their own right." —Bethany Brookshire, author of Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains
This information about Forget the Camel was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Elizabeth MeLampy is a lawyer whose work focuses on animal rights and protection. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, she was named an Emerging Scholar Fellow by the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy in 2020 and received an award for her work with Harvard Law's Animal Law & Policy Program in 2021. She has interned with organizations like the PETA Foundation, Animal Outlook, and the Conservation Law Foundation, and clerked for judges in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the Federal District Court in Arizona. She currently works as an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council and lives in Washington, DC.
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