Pit Bull by Bronwen Dickey I became interested in reading Dickey's incredibly researched and exhaustive history of not only a breed of dog, but of people's complicated relationships with "man's best friend" after hearing her interviewed on "Fresh Air."
Dickey focuses on the history of the "pit bull," which is actually several different breeds of dogs, not one. She delves into how these dogs became known as "fighters", due to how they were raised in the poorer sections of New York in the 1800s. Then, we learn about how the upper classes and movie stars loved and owned them throughout the late 1800s and early 20th century for their sweet nature and loyalty. Finally, the author leads us through the transformation of this breed, from icon of Hollywood in the 1920s and 30s as seen in "The Little Rascals" and Buster Keaton movies, to the preferred dog of drug dealers and thugs in the inner cities of America in the 70s and 80s. Along the way, Dickey explains how societies' treatment of dogs has too often paralleled how they have viewed their human owners - if the breeds were (and are) popular with "the right people," then fine. If certain dog breeds became common companions of the poor , or of minorities, then they were "dangerous and undesirable."
I found this book very interesting and informative over all. However, I feel that Dickey should have paired the book down by at least 40 pages, because she repeats her main points, and exhausts the reader with too many statistics and citations.
Still, it is a very valuable history that does an excellent job of proving that humans are a more dangerous animal than dogs.