Pit Bull: The Battle over an American Icon

Bronwen Dickey

May 2016 · Sold by Vintage

About this ebook

The hugely illuminating story of how a popular breed of dog became the most demonized and supposedly the most dangerous of dogs—and what role humans have played in the transformation.  

When Bronwen Dickey brought her new dog home, she saw no traces of the infamous viciousness in her affectionate, timid pit bull. Which made her wonder: How had the breed—beloved by Teddy Roosevelt, Helen Keller, and Hollywood’s “Little Rascals”—come to be known as a brutal fighter?

Her search for answers takes her from nineteenth-century New York City dogfighting pits—the cruelty of which drew the attention of the recently formed ASPCA—to early twentieth‑century movie sets, where pit bulls cavorted with Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton; from the battlefields of Gettysburg and the Marne, where pit bulls earned presidential recognition, to desolate urban neighborhoods where the dogs were loved, prized—and sometimes brutalized.

Whether through love or fear, hatred or devotion, humans are bound to the history of the pit bull. With unfailing thoughtfulness, compassion, and a firm grasp of scientific fact, Dickey offers us a clear-eyed portrait of this extraordinary breed, and an insightful view of Americans’ relationship with their dogs.

Ratings and reviews

This book is great. Well written, well cited, full of new facts you'd probably never have known otherwise, full of the author's experience. Just chock full of interesting stuff. Some made me tear up a bit, I must admit. But also, the author doesn't sugar coat the past of the APBT, none of the nanny dog nonsense, none of the "they're perfectly fine to be left alone with children" stuff (no dog should be left with a child). Just pure fact.

I finished the book and really loved it. It is at least equally about how our society treats marginalized humans as it is about how we treat short haired, athletic dogs. While I knew lots of the dog stuff, it was awesome to see so many of the myths and their origins addressed in one place with evidence and the issue stripped down to the facts. I learned a lot about the human side. It was a history, sociology and ethics class rolled into one awesome book. I also loved going through the author's thank you list and seeing how kind she was, thanking even those who were on the other side of the debate. Bronwen Dickey is a classy lady. "Pit Bull: The Battle Over An American Icon". I highly recommend reading it. It's not just about the dogs.

lots of misinformation mixed with good information, this is definitely by someone whom didn't know about the breed before their shelter dog.

About the author

BRONWEN DICKEY is an essayist and journalist who writes regularly for the Oxford American. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, Slate, The Best American Travel Writing 2009, Newsweek, and Outside, among other publications. In 2009 she received a first-place Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award and a MacDowell Colony residency grant. She lives in North Carolina.