"Pearson’s study of the modernization of three major metropoles makes a thrilling and sometimes chilling case that dogs played active roles in the story of how we together became predominantly urban species. . . . In the Covid era, the lessons of Dogopolis help us think about where the human race is going. . . . Pearson’s in-depth study of the modernization of this dynamic in three Western capitals adds resounding confirmation that dogs prove faithful mirrors of humans’ ever-failing aspirations to humanity."

Times Higher Education

“Pearson’s history helps to explain why we treat dogs the way we do, and how city-dwellers in particular have come to define themselves in relation to the nonhuman. . . Dogopolis offers a corrective to the rosy way we often prefer to see the human-canine bond: it may be millennia-old but unconditional it certainly is not.”

Times Literary Supplement

"Sophisticated, accessible, and invaluable. . . A scholarly triumph. . . Highly recommended."

Choice

"Dogopolis makes an original and important contribution to several key areas of scholarship. . . . Pearson’s engaging study provides a template for further research into the place of animals in the city, showcasing approaches that might be profitably extended to other areas of human–animal studies."

Social History

"This work offers us a return to the key sites of transformation in the relationship between man and dog, describing the contexts and conflicts engendered by this inter-species urban cohabitation."

Urbanités (Translated from French)

“Dogopolis is a beautifully presented book with an evocative historical voice and great confidence and flair. It is also a lot of fun to read. Pearson offers a treasure trove of details about the shared lives of humans and dogs across three rapidly urbanizing cities that epitomized urban modernity and deals with themes at the heart of urban history in his examination of the public and private spaces; class, gender, and race relationships; and public health and disease.”

Neil Pemberton, coauthor of The Invention of the Modern Dog: Breed and Blood in Victorian Britain

“Pearson’s dazzling and elegantly written Dogopolis proves irrefutably that dogs are good to think with. Pearson takes us on a journey encompassing everything from coddling to muzzling, mad dogs to doting owners, dog pounds to pet cemeteries. The result is a finely-textured history of the warp and indeed the woof of urban modernity that is like no other.”

Colin Jones, author of Paris: The Biography of a City

“Straying, biting, suffering, thinking, defecating, the dogs of Paris, London, and New York were central actors in the making of the modern urban experience. Dogopolis is their story, one shared with the middle-class human animals whose ambivalent emotions come alive in this wonderful book.”

Peter Sahlins, author of 1668: The Year of the Animal in France

“Dogopolis provides a vividly detailed comparison of canine experience in London, Paris, and New York. Ranging from the scientific to the political to the (un)hygienic, it traces the development of the profoundly entangled relationship between humans and dogs in modern cities.”

Harriet Ritvo, author of The Animal Estate: The English and Other Creatures in the Victorian Age

“Dogs are urbanites. In his excellent new book, historian Chris Pearson takes us to London, New York and Paris to illuminate how dogs have influenced human emotions like love, disgust and fear. Through a wide range of sources, we gain fascinating insights into the behaviors of urban dogs and how their straying, biting, suffering, thinking, and defecating led to the creation of laws, specialized institutions, segregated contact zones, and even taxes that were crucial for the development of these cities into modern metropoles. A must-read for anyone trying to understand the true multiplicity of urban living.”

Dorothee Brantz, Technische Universität Berlin

"This original, accessible, and well-researched book is a compelling addition to the literature on urban history from a nonhuman perspective. It will undoubtedly also appeal to scholars in fields such as animal geography and urban ecology, and anyone drawn towards a more-than-human reflection for a better understanding of human-animal entanglements."

EuropeNow (Editor's Pick)

"What makes this book so good is Pearson’s eye for the telling detail, as he has delved deeply into local sources to give readers a unique feel of daily life for humans as well as dogs in all three cities during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries."

H-France

"Wide-ranging and engaging. . . An important investigation into how the relationship between dogs and humans has shaped modern urban life as well as human imaginations of what urban spaces should be."

Environment and History

"Dogopolis is as accessible as it is pleasurable to read. . . . Pearson provides succinct coverage of the spectrum of dog-related questions that plagued middle-class urbanites around the turn of the century. He discusses topics like rabies scares, anti-vivisection movements, and the founding of humane societies. Readers without much background in the historiography of human-animal relations will find the text informative and easy to navigate." 

H-Urban

"Dogopolis is both an excellent introduction to the history of dogs in the modern Western city and a substantial contribution to that history in its own right. . . . There is no better guide than Pearson to the ways in which dogs were caught up in the civic dialogue of modern western societies."

Humanimalia

"Dogopolis eloquently reveals how interactions with dogs, and ideas about our canine cohabitors, are powerful... Most significantly, it demonstrates how tightly braided human emotions are with dog lives and imaginaries, and how these emotions become tangible forces, shaping and remaking infrastructure, the built environment, organizations, and technologies."

Cultural and Social History

"Pearson’s book is unique in that he situates New York’s historical experience with dogs within a transnational framework that also includes Paris and London."

New York History