Dogs Save
Stories of Canine Redemption in US Culture
$85.16
- Paperback
256 pages
- Release Date
21 April 2026
Summary
Stories about people and dogs saving one another are everywhere in US culture—on TV, in Hollywood movies, on social media, and even on bumper stickers. Yet these seemingly heartwarming stories of mutual rescue revolve around redemption through suffering, a narrative profoundly interwoven with Christian beliefs, white racial anxieties, and US national myths.
Katharine Mershon examines the unacknowledged religious underpinnings of stories about dogs, revealing deeply rooted cultural ass…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780231206976 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0231206976 |
| Author: | Katharine Mershon |
| Publisher: | Columbia University Press |
| Imprint: | Columbia University Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 256 |
| Release Date: | 21 April 2026 |
| Weight: | 324g |
| Dimensions: | 140mm x 216mm |
| Series: | Critical Perspectives on Animals: Theory, Culture, Science, and Law |

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Critics Review
An urgent, necessary read for those seeking to understand our enduring intimacy with animals—a sacred bond that Mershon fearlessly examines. – Colin Dayan, author of With Dogs at the Edge of Life and Animal Quintet
In Dogs Save, Mershon reveals how the stories we tell about dogs are also stories about redemption, race, nation, and identity—stories that sometimes bring us closer to reality and sometimes distort it. Ultimately, Mershon illumines nothing less than the religious dimension of our lives with dogs—lives that include both joy and sorrow, projection and genuine intimacy. She eruditely helps us understand how dogs are symbolized, but in the end, Mershon’s most demanding request is that we attend to the dogs themselves. – Aaron Gross, author of The Question of the Animal and Religion: Theoretical Stakes, Practical Implications
Katharine Mershon offers a signal contribution to animal studies in religious history, showing how stories of redemption script human relationships to dogs. Whenever humans talk about their dogs they reflect on what lives are worth having. After you read Dogs Save, you will never think about animal freedom the same way again. – Kathryn Lofton, author of Consuming Religion
Katharine Mershon
Katharine Mershon is assistant professor of philosophy and religion at Western Carolina University.
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