Animals in War (book)

Animals in War is a 1983 non-fiction book by English author Jilly Cooper. It is a history of the use of animals by the military and examines the roles of a range of species across conflicts. The book was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum to coincide with its Animals in War exhibition. The book was reviewed at its time of publication positively, with reviewers praising its insight and the range of animals, conflicts and time periods covered. Academic analyses from Hilda Kean and Gary Genosko have recognised that the book over-emphasises the agency that trained military animals have or alternatively, as with the work of Steven Johnston, have re-framed some of Cooper's accounts as acts of resistance by animals. Public response to the book led to a campaign to establish a memorial to animals who were used and died in the service of the British military.