New Edward Carpenter Biography

One of the Grumpy Vegan’s four favourite historical figures from the animal rights movement, Edward Carpenter, is the subject of a new biography by historian Sheila Rowbotham. (The other three are Frances Power Cobbe, BUAV’s; Anna Kingsford, medical doctor and anti-vivisectionist; and Henry Salt, founder of the Humanitarian League.)

I’ve yet to receive my copy of the biography. It’s been on order for at least two weeks and is scheduled for delivery later this month.

Anyway, the review is very positive and I’m greatly looking forward to reading Edward Carpenter: A Life of Liberty and Love.

This is the first full-length biography of the most rivetingly interesting figure in late 19th-century radical politics. Edward Carpenter, alias the Saint in Sandals, the Noble Savage and, more recently, “gay godfather of the British left”, was a writer, philosopher and charismatic propagandist for a multitude of causes, including anti-pollution, women’s liberation, naturism, vegetarianism, animal rights, smallholdings, recycling. You name it, Carpenter espoused it from the start.

I have 21 books by and about Edward Carpenter in my collection.