The Cape Fear River runs through Bladen County, North Carolina, population 33,000. On its western bank, in the town of Tar Heel, sits the largest slaughterhouse in the world. Deep below the slaughterhouse, one may find the arrowheads of Siouan-speaking peoples who roamed there for a millennium. Nearer the surface is evidence of slaves who labored there for a century. And now, the slaughterhouse kills the population of Bladen County, in hogs, every day.
In this remarkable account, Wise traces the history of today's deadly harvest. From the colonies to the slave trade, from the artificial conception and unrecorded death of one single pig to the surreal science of the pork industry—whose workers continue the centuries of oppression—he unveils a portrait of this nation through the lives of its most vulnerable. His explorations ultimately lead to hope from a most unlikely source: the Baptist clergy, a voice in this wilderness proclaiming a new view of creation.
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Reader Reviews
Praise
Curled Up with a Good Book
“Wise puts his facts together carefully, examining the pork industry, in which North Carolina is a pioneer state, from pre-natal to pork chop. Without assigning blame, he casts light on how the daily grind of this brutal work shop turns workers callous…Wise is not asking that we boycott pork or take up a radical vegan lifestyle…He is hoping to find, not converts, but advocates for the pig. With this dramatic and incisive book, he will no doubt find many.”
“Wise puts his facts together carefully, examining the pork industry, in which North Carolina is a pioneer state, from pre-natal to pork chop. Without assigning blame, he casts light on how the daily grind of this brutal work shop turns workers callous…Wise is not asking that we boycott pork or take up a radical vegan lifestyle…He is hoping to find, not converts, but advocates for the pig. With this dramatic and incisive book, he will no doubt find many.”
