Dominion

The book opens with the story of creation in Genesis, where people are given authority over fish, birds, livestock, and every living thing on earth. Matthew Scully reads that authority as a weight as much as a right, one that asks for respect and gentleness toward other creatures. In his view, that duty has been lost somewhere along the way.

Scully takes readers into the world of big-game hunting, following the annual gathering of Safari Club International, whose wealthier members pay as much as $20,000 to shoot an elephant, a lion, or another animal. Such hunts take place overseas or on American "safari ranches" where animals are confined behind fences. He also attends the yearly meeting of the International Whaling Commission, where the politics of the whaling trade come under scrutiny.

The book widens its focus beyond these scenes to cover how people treat animals more broadly, including factory farming and animal testing, and to ask what moral standard should shape those choices. Scully, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, writes from a conservative perspective.