Pet Nation: The Inside Story of How Companion Animals Are Transforming Our Homes, Culture, and Economy

Now in paperback and with an update about pets during COVID.


In the last 20 years pets have gone from the backyard to sleeping on our beds, then showing up in every corner of America. Pet Nation tells the story of this seismic shift and the economic, media, legal, political, and social dramas springing from this cultural transformation.

Since 1998 the pet population in the U.S. has almost doubled — about two-thirds of the country now owns a pet. No longer left to wander the neighborhood, dog...