Zoo Culture

Zoo Culture is a well researched and thoughtful book on the history, function, and cultural meaning of zoos in the world today. The authors do not simply accept the zoo as unproblematic. They attempt to show that zoos, rightly or wrongly, are used to define the difference between human and animal, a contention that the idea of being 'human' is not natural but socially constructed. Their account is certainly not an endorsement of zoos, perhaps even on the contrary, laying out the argument that zoos are ultimately expressions of power by a domineering society.