"A rich and sophisticated analysis that uses materials from literary fiction to fine art, ephemera and philosophy.”

History Today

“Precarious Partners offers an insightful and illuminating exploration of horse-human relations in nineteenth-century France… Weil’s command of written and visual sources is outstanding throughout the book.”

H-France Review

“Precarious Partners brilliantly ties horse-human relations to questions of race, gender, class, and species in nineteenth-century France. From ‘women on horseback’ to pity for horses to the consumption of horsemeat; and from natural history to art history, philosophy, literature, and politics, Weil’s wide-ranging and interdisciplinary study makes an outstanding contribution to French studies, cultural history, and animal studies.”

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

“Weil’s gentle prose effortlessly unfolds the most complex overlapping of human and equine histories. Her finely detailed research holds our most alert attention in that she demonstrates how equestrian worlds produce intricate formations of race, gender, sexuality, and species within and beyond their ostensible domain. Precarious Partners is intensely readable and leaves the reader wanting to follow its every thread.”

Lynn Turner, coeditor of The Edinburgh Companion to Animal Studies