Jim Mason (born September 30, 1940) is an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

, journalist and

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

activist. Mason was born in

Superior, Wisconsin , native_name_lang = oj , nickname = , total_type = , motto = , image_skyline = Tower Avenue.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Downtown Superior , ima ...

on September 30, 1940."Jim Mason papers relating to Animal factories 1975-2000"

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

. Retrieved March 22, 2020. He grew up in rural

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

on a farm. He was educated at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. He dropped out and spent the next two years traveling in New York and New England before joining the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. After he completed his military service, Mason attended the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

where he obtained his J.D. degree. He formed his own law practice in

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...

in 1973. Mason was introduced to philosopher

Peter Singer Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher, currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular, ...

in 1974. The next year they began discussing the possibility of collaborating on a book-length treatment of

factory farming Intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production, also known by its opponents as factory farming and macro-farms, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to maximize production, while ...

. Mason did much research on factory farming and travelled around the United States and Canada visiting

intensive farming Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of ag ...

facilities. Their book ''Animal Factories'' was first published in 1980 and revised in 1990. It provides a critical review and photographic documentation of factory farming practices in North America. The book is known for having "played a role in the United States similar to that of Harrison's book in the United Kingdom and Europe in providing a critical expose of the factory farm system." He was elected to the U.S. Animal Rights Hall of Fame in 2001. Mason is a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

Selected publications

*''Animal Factories'' (with

, 1990) *''An Unnatural Order: Uncovering the Roots of Our Domination of Nature and Each Other'' (1993) *''The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter'' (with Peter Singer, 2006)Kalins, Dorothy. (2006)
"Eat Your Vegetables"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Retrieved March 22, 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Jim 1940 births 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American lawyers American animal rights activists American animal rights scholars American male journalists American veganism activists Living people People from Superior, Wisconsin University of Missouri School of Law alumni University of Washington alumni