i really loved Tender is the Flesh, but i know it is a divisive book. for anyone else who enjoyed it, or for folks who aren't sure what to think yet, here are some titles i would recommend if you are interested in learning / reading about contexts and themes relevant to Tender is the Flesh.

i will put a (*) next to the titles that i personally have not read yet, but others have connected to Tender is the Flesh.

Deadly Feasts: The Prion Controversy and Public Health by Richard Rhodes the government failing to handle a disease that targeted animals and could infect humans? cover ups and conspiracies centered around the livestock industry? socially accepted cannibalism? this book has it all, and it's non-fiction.

*Still Life with Bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains by Alexa Hagerty the political history of Argentina is undoubtedly a significant influence on Bazterrica's writing. read this one if, like me, you want to learn more about this history both for personal edification and to better understand these themes in Tender is the Flesh.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach experimentation on animals and human corpses has been a part of medical and scientific research for centuries. Roach explores this topic with humour and pragmatism, but you may be surprised at just how similar the experiments described in Stiff are to the treatment of living human bodies in Tender is the Flesh.

*Meat Love: An Ideology of the Flesh by Amber Husain if Tender is the Flesh has left you conflicted about eating meat, or even fully convinced to go vegetarian, this manifesto will either affirm your convictions or leave you more uncertain than ever.

*The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry by Ned and Constance Sublette the exploitation of the human body is not a morbid hypothetical; it is a pattern of colonial violence that has happened throughout history in many forms. there is precedence to what Bazterrica writes about.

Carol J. Adams' writings on feminism, vegetarianism, and the environment I have only read The Sexual Politics of Meat: a Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory, and while i cannot authentically recommend it, i would encourage you to look in to Adams' work to develop an understanding of the intersection between patriarchy and the meat industry.

i have very specific, very niche literary inclinations so maybe this is only appealing to me, but please feel free to add more titles in the comments and let me know if any of these interest you!

This so what I’m talking about🙂‍↕️ I loved this book because because of its political undertones

i love intellectuals and media literacy!! the additional reading, the reasonings for each!!!! chef's kiss

This is such a great addition to the book!

thank you for this!!!

I remember seeing your forum post and hoped you'd make a list! Thank you for taking the time to put this together 😊 Really appreciate that you've connected it back to so many different topics, too. I was thinking about so many of these things when reading, but don't really have a solid background on any of them 😅 So it's really nice to have a starting point to look into things further 👀