The Vegetarian Movement as Part of the American Reform Movement

One of the most fascinating books I've read on vegans and vegetarians is Adam D. Shprintzen's The Vegetarian Crusade:  The Rise of an American Reform Movement, 1817-1921.

Because I have a breakfast buffet of books, I don't get around to every book on the buffet every day, but this morning I read about the parents of Louisa May Alcott, who were very active in trying to support a diet free of meat in order to promote social justice and animal welfare.

Their "utopia" was called Fruitlands which sounds like a vegan attempt at paradise.

Even their clothes were thought-out and made of linen to avoid all animal products such as well and cotton, which was slave-produced.  Even the fields were tilled only by people, but the people turned out to be primarily Louisa May Alcott's mother, who quickly became disenchanted with Fruitlands for that reason!  She wrote that a woman "may 'die daily' in the cause of truth and righteousness.  She lives neglected, and dies forgotten."