A fascinating look at the ubiquitous cow.

The cow is everywhere: as a vehicle for both farmers and advertisers, as a subject for scientists and poets, or simply as a tasty sandwich meat. Yet after more than ten thousand years living alongside humans, the female of the bovine species remains a beguiling mystery. Combining entertaining anecdotes and illuminating discoveries, Florian Werner presents the curious cultural history of that most intriguing of animals: the cow.

Since evolving from the aurochs, an ungulate that grazed the Persian grasslands, the cow has embedded herself into virtually all aspects of our lives. Rigorously researched, Cow is the first book to look at the animal in its countless manifestations in cultures around the world. Werner examines cows’ role in commerce and their place on our plates and in our stomachs. He looks at how cows are worshipped in some circles, such as in Hindu mythology, and abhorred in others, today being vilified as an agent of climate change because of their methane production. And he waxes philosophic about the cow’s rumination and cud chewing, as well as her simple but meaningful moo.

With a touching and personal introduction from leading animal welfare advocate, Temple Grandin, the book offers readers an eye-opening perspective on this commodified animal, whose existence is inextricably intertwined with ours and which we too often take for granted. Doris Ecker, a Vancouver-based translator and writer, provides the translation.

“A vibrantly written cultural and curio history of the human–cow relationship.” —Tages-Anzeiger