Killing for Sport

Killing for Sport is a fierce and witty anti-blood-sport manifesto that attacks hunting, baiting, and the culture of organized cruelty as relics of a less civilized age. Framed by Henry S. Salt and opened by Bernard Shaw's sharp, morally teasing preface, the book refuses easy certainties: sportsmen are not simply monsters, and humanitarians are not automatically virtuous. Instead, it probes the contradictions in human sympathy, exposing the fascination with violence, the thrill of killing from a distance, and the habit of disguising brutality as courage, tradition, or manliness. Gathering essays from multiple voices, the book condemns the Game Laws as a class privilege that turned common rights into elite property, burdened agriculture, and criminalized the poor. It denounces harsh punishments, biased magistrates, abusive gamekeepers, and the persecution of poachers, who are often portrayed as resourceful, dignified men driven by hardship rather than vice. Blending moral outrage, social criticism, and political argument, this provocative volume challenges readers to rethink sport, power, and the value of animal life. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.