Striking at the Roots

Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism is a non-fiction book by Mark Hawthorne that examines a number of strategies for animal activism in countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. The book was published by O Books in the UK in 2007 as a 282-page paperback (ISBN 978-1846940910).

More than 100 animal activists—including Carol J. Adams, Gene Baur, Alka Chandna, Nick Cooney, Karen Davis, Joyce D’Silva, Adam Durand, Lisa Franzetta, Juliet Gellatley, Bruce Friedrich, pattrice jones, Erik Marcus, Jack Norris, Glenys Oogjes, Lauren Ornelas, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, Nathan Runkle, Paul Shapiro and Kim Sturla—discuss the models of activism that work best for advancing animal rights and animal welfare.

Contents include discussions of leafleting, writing, tabling, protesting, corporate campaigning, legislation, lobbying, multimedia, direct action, and using vegan food as outreach.

Hawthorne says he wrote the book because when he first got into animal activism, he could not find a book like it, “one resource that you could easily carry with you” that covers the broad range of activist models. The book is written for people who are already concerned about abuse of animals and need to learn how to take effective action.

The title is derived from Walden, in which Henry David Thoreau writes: "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root." Thoreau's phrase "striking at the root" may be an allusion to Matthew 3:10 -- "And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire."

Hawthorne's second book, Bleating Hearts: The Hidden World of Animal Suffering, was published in 2013.

His next book, A Vegan Ethic: Embracing A Life Of Compassion Toward All, will be published on July 29, 2016.