Masterminding Nature is an informative account of the various innovations that have marked the livestock industry, with a special focus on advancements in reproductive technology. At its core, writes Margaret Derry, it is a book “about the evolution of practice and theory in artificial selection methodology as applied to animal breeding from about 1750 until 2010” and a “fusion of aspects of science with traditional practice” (p. 3).

The organization of the book is roughly chronological, beginning with a discussion of artificial selection in the eighteenth century. Chapter 2 chronicles early developments in genetics in the early twentieth century. Chapter 3 focuses on the notion of “hybrid vigor” through the lens of chickens and the poultry industry more broadly from 1880 to the 1940s. Chapter 4 explores the emergence of artificial insemination technology (primarily in cattle), while chapter 5 traces the advent of molecular genetics and the rise of genomics in the 1960s. Derry then brings her narrative into the present with various discussions of such practices as DNA testing of cattle, more genomics, cattle dehorning, and the morality of such practices in the twenty-first century. A more widely accepted understanding of animal sentience, posits Derry, deserves part of the credit for today's increasingly pronounced unease with some long-standing practices of raising and breeding livestock. For example, cattle dehorning and the consumption of veal have come under increased scrutiny in recent years by various animal welfare groups.

Derry identifies herself as a breeder of beef cattle in her acknowledgments, and the parts on cattle breeding are particularly strong; in-depth sections are devoted to individual breeds—the Holstein, the most popular dairy breed, merits perhaps the most attention—and how those breeds have evolved because of both artificial selection centuries ago and a wide range of technologies employed throughout the twentieth century, from artificial insemination to sexed semen.

However, while Derry's project is meticulous, containing details galore about significant scientific innovations—including transgenics and cloning—that have transformed the various livestock industries in recent years, the actual narrative is quite dry and uninspired. All those details need more cultural context than Derry provides. One bright spot is her discussion of the Percheron horse trade in the late nineteenth century. At its root, it is an international business story, as breeders in France and America worked to enlarge the stately draft horse's gene pool in the United States. But questions about purity of bloodline, type, and pedigree hindered the Percheron's development, and corruption among importers of the breed was widespread. A “horse depression” in the 1890s made matters worse, seriously impacting the lucrative draft horse trade (pp. 30–32).

Masterminding Nature could greatly benefit from more of these little nuggets and tidbits of animal-centric history throughout the text. It is instead so focused on the science and technology side of this history, that the prose becomes jargon heavy, dense, and much too technical for any reading audience outside of the sciences. The book is in desperate need of an overarching theme that ties the narrative together in a compelling, creative way.

Considering how robust and dynamic the field of animal studies has become in recent years, Derry might have taken some inspiration from Harriet Ritvo's groundbreaking The Animal Estate: The English and Other Creatures in Victorian England (1989) or Virginia DeJohn Anderson's Creatures of Empire: How Domestic Animals Transformed Early America (2004). These texts, which cover roughly the same time periods as Derry's project, are infused with perspectives from cultural history and American studies while also placing the study of archival sources at the forefront. For Ritvo, the theme of wealth and privilege of livestock owners in Victorian England effectively guided her project. For Anderson, it was Native/settler relations, and how livestock became just one expression of the struggle for power between those populations. Furthermore, Derry might have more fully explained the economic incentives behind the many technologies that have impacted livestock breeding. What role, for example, do agribusiness, increased farm consolidation, and the emergence of mega dairies or concentrated animal feeding operations play in the implementation of key innovations like sexed semen used for artificial insemination? Have such innovations truly led to more efficient farming? Derry addresses these ideas to some degree in her sixth chapter, “Biology, Industry Needs, and Morality in Livestock Breeding,” but her discussion merely skims the surface—particularly the section on morality. The bigger issue with the text as a whole is stylistic. It simply lacks color and personality. The history of livestock in America is a compelling, even at times enthralling, story. Masterminding Nature should be a more compelling and readable text.