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characteristics that distinguish play from Wild Justice: the Moral Lives of other types of activity. For example, a com- Animals monly cited defining characteristic of play and Jessica Pierce is its nonliteral quality, the fact that play Chicago, IL: University of Chicago embodies a suspension of reality or what is Press, 2009. Illustrations, notes, bibliog- often referred to as its as-if nature. It is not raphy, index. xv, 188 pp. $26.00 cloth. obvious to me how rock climbing or bread ISBN: 9780226041612 baking involves a suspension of reality. It may be ultimately impossible to achieve The last several years have seen an enor- consensus around one operational defini- mous growth of interest in many aspects tion of play but the danger in not working of animal cognitive and emotional capaci- towards one is that the concept becomes ties. Animals, it has been shown, can learn too general and therefore loses any real to solve problems by observing others, can defining power. experience complex emotions, and can I think the book would also have bene- communicate with others about resources fited from the inclusion of some references. and danger, sometimes deceptively. Dogs I recognize that this book was written for and parrots can understand the meaning of a popular audience as opposed to an aca- human words, and chimpanzees can solve demic one, but I found myself wanting memory-retrieval tasks at rates faster than some bibliographical information, not to most people. Nonetheless, those commit- evaluate the credibility of Brown’s argu- ted to an essential discontinuity between ments but to follow up on the interesting the human and nonhuman often point to research he was discussing. It may be true the supposed lack of moral and ethical that the book would be somewhat less read- behavior among animals. Although many able if it were peppered with references but humans pay attention to our ethical re- some list of resources and references would sponsibilities to other species, no one has be helpful for the reader. much studied whether other species have Stuart Brown has written a book that is moral and ethical codes that may oper- wide ranging in its scope, thoughtful, and ate in their lives and serve as evolutionary somewhat inspiring. What stands out for precursors to the purportedly advanced me, however, is the author’s obvious pas- moral behavior of human beings. sion. After reading the book, I came away On page 1 of Wild Justice, authors with the strong sense that the writing of Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce make their this book was not simply an academic position clear and chart the outline of the exercise for the author or his jumping on book: “. . . animals feel empathy for each some marketing bandwagon. Stuart Brown other, treat one another fairly, cooperate cares deeply about the value of play for both towards common goals, and help each children and adults, and this book, an em- other out of trouble. We argue, in short, bodiment of this passion, provides strong that animals have morality.” The key point support for others who believe that play is here is that we need to judge the codes of a necessary part of the human experience. conduct in other species on their terms, not on ours. We need to apply to the anal- —David Kuschner, University of Cincin- ysis all that we know and can learn about nati, Cincinnati, OH their normal behavior, their social organi-

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zation, and their cognitive and perceptual social play and games in children usually abilities—and the ecological contexts in accept some or most of these functions of which they have evolved. We might call play. If more persuasion was needed, look- this tack a critical anthropomorphic or ing at animal social play in this way may biocentric approach. help counter the perception among many The book is well written and well orga- who study human play that research on nized. The introductory chapters delineate other species has little relevance. Readers the strains of evidence that make consider- will find an article based on this chapter ation of morality and justice in the social in the Spring 2009 issue of the American lives of other species a worthwhile en- Journal of Play (vol. 1, issue 4). deavor. The authors briefly introduce ter- Although the book is short—less than minological, conceptual, methodological, two hundred pages—there is an extensive and even philosophical material to orient bibliography of about 240 items. But I had the reader. The heart of the book follows problems locating cited material in some in three chapters devoted to cooperation, cases, because numbered notes used in the empathy, and justice. Evidence support- text often refer to references found not in ing the authors’ conclusions consists of the bibliography but only in the notes. a mixture of anecdotes and descriptions Sometimes a study discussed in the text of key or illustrative experiments. While is not noted nor included in the bibliogra- specialists familiar with the research areas phy (e.g., “Swiss study” on page 21). There will find some of the conclusions prema- is also some redundancy in the writing. In ture or wish for more details or critical addition, although the topic is obviously evaluation, the pattern of results will likely current, I wish its historical context was convince most readers that here are fas- made clearer. Although , cinating and important phenomena that , and E. P. Evans are men- deserve further exploration. Going be- tioned, other writers are also relevant. For yond cognitive and comparative example, Bekoff and Pierce could have psychology, the authors even propose a discussed two authors who specifically set new field: empathic ethology, which might out to discover if the ten Judeo-Christian well include the growing field of affective commandments applied to other species neuroscience. in books written sixty-five years apart: Er- The relevance of this book to readers nest Thompson Seton’s The Natural His- interested in the study of play lies primar- tory of the Ten Commandments (1907) ily in chapter 5, “Justice,” subtitled “Honor and Wolfgang Wickler’s The of and Fair Play among Beasts.” Here are di- the Ten Commandments (1972). How the verse data and even computer models sup- early evolutionists, natural historians, porting the role of social play in , and ethologists looked at animal codes of practicing, and refining moral behavior. conduct might help illuminate progress In short, play inculcates aspects of fairness made and issues still to be resolved. Also, and helps to teach social rules, reciproc- in a short book, it may be inevitable that ity, and other aspects of social interaction. some phenomena are largely ignored. All this makes social living stable and en- Parent-offspring interactions receive hances the fitness of groups or of the in- little attention here, cruelty is raised but dividuals living in them. Those studying quickly dismissed, and incest taboos in

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various species are nowhere to be found, consumers (above all in America and Brit- although they have been much discussed ain) than from their compatriots. Given elsewhere. But these are minor problems these sorts of connections, developments in this fine book authored by an eminent in Germany take on particular relevance ethologist and play researcher partnered for anyone interested in the changing na- with a philosopher concerned about ani- ture of childhood and play in Europe and mals and animal issues. For readers who North America before World War I. For- want to put fairness and play into a larger tunately, we have in David Hamlin’s and ethological, evolutionary, and philosophi- Bryan Ganaway’s recent studies—both re- cal context, this book will be a fine and vised versions of their dissertations—good enjoyable read. surveys of the development of the German toy industry and the cultural associations —Gordon M. Burghardt, University of surrounding its products. Both use toys Tennessee, Knoxville, TN to illustrate the nexus of mass consump- tion, rising middle-class ideals, and chang- ing notions of childhood that have been the focus of much recent research. Their Work and Play: The Production works also implicitly suggest the value of and Consumption of Toys in a more holistic, transnational approach to Germany, 1870–1914 the history of play and childhood. David D. Hamlin Hamlin’s work starts from a basic but Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan profound premise: one cannot understand Press, 2007. Illustrations, references, the rapid rise of Germany’s toy industry bibliography, index. x, 286 pp. $75.00 in the later nineteenth and early twentieth cloth. ISBN: 9780472115884 centuries without understanding both the structural economic changes that accom- Toys, Consumption, and Middle- panied the rise of mass production and the Class Childhood in Imperial shifting cultural meanings of toys that ac- Germany, 1871–1918 companied the rise of mass consumption. Bryan Ganaway He links the two developments (mass pro- Oxford, England: Peter Lang, 2009. Il- duction and mass consumption) through lustrations, references, bibliography, a sophisticated framework centered on index. xi, 287 pp. $55.95 paper. ISBN: the arrival of “modernity” in Germany. 9783039115488 In particular, he is interested in illustrat- ing the establishment and consequences of If you believe the German toy industry’s the middle-class ideal of the autonomous own hype, around the turn of the twenti- individual, an “agent capable of rational ac- eth century it had cornered 60 percent of tion, self-definition, and moral reflection the world market and dominated its own and . . . the object of continuous state and domestic market. Even if you are skepti- social pressure” (p. 8). This construction cal about these particular numbers, it is is crucially important for Hamlin’s overall certainly true that German toy makers analysis, as he makes it the precondition for were the most successful toy exporters in the changes he charts in both the economic the world and profited more from foreign and cultural spheres. Tensions in middle-

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