Committed: A Rabble-Rouser's Memoir

Committed is a bold, offbeat, globe-trotting memoir that shows how the most ridiculed punching bag in high school became an internationally renowned crusader for the most downtrodden individuals of all — animals. This irresistibly entertaining book recounts the random incidents and soul-searching that inspired a reluctant party boy to devote his life to a cause, without ever abandoning his sense of mischief and fun.

Everyone has a tense moment in their career that makes them wonder, how the hell did I get into this mess? writes Mathews. For me, it was when I was dressed as a carrot to promote vegetarianism outside an elementary school in Des Moines, and a pack of obese pig farmers showed up and peeled off slices of bologna for kids to throw at me. As the irreverent force behind the colorful crusades carried out by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), one of the most effective and enduring pressure groups in the world, Mathews has strutted naked before a fur convention in Tokyo, halted GM's use of animals in crash tests by storming the carmaker's float in the Rose Parade dressed as a rabbit, and crashed a fashion show in Milan dressed as a priest. With self-deprecating wit and candor, Mathews reveals all the edgy details of his unorthodox coming-of-age and equally outrageous career.

With backdrops such as the rock scene in Hollywood and London, the inner sanctums of New York high fashion, jails in Hong Kong and Boston, and a psychiatric ward in Paris, Committed spotlights the adventures life can offer when you don't abandon your youthful ideals and imagination.

Committed is a bold, offbeat, globe-trotting memoir that shows how the most ridiculed punching bag in high school became an internationally renowned crusader for the most downtrodden individuals of all — animals. This irresistibly entertaining book recounts the unorthodox coming-of-age that inspired a reluctant party boy to devote his life to a cause, without ever abandoning his sense of mischief and fun.

Mathews is the irreverent force behind the colorful crusades carried out by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), making animal rights the "it" cause with campaigns involving nude protestors, odd costumes, and celebrities as diverse as Pamela Anderson and Sir Paul McCartney. With self-deprecating wit and candor, he reveals the edgy details of his outrageous career, which has found him arrested naked on the streets of Hong Kong, dressed as a carrot outside grade schools in Iowa (where he was pelted with luncheon meats), and impersonating a priest to crash a fashion show in Milan.

From the rock scene in Hollywood and London to the inner sanctums of New York high fashion and from jails in Boston to a psychiatric ward in Paris, Committed spotlights the adventures life can offer when you don't abandon your ideals and imagination with your youth.

Dan Matthews worked as a dancing tree in the Disneyland Christmas parade, a burger flipper at McDonald's, and a model and actor in Italy before earning a history degree from American University. Upon graduating, he took a job as receptionist at PETA and worked his way up for more than twenty years to become the group's vice president, charged with increasing awareness of animal rights through a variety of provocative campaigns. He lives in Portsmouth, Virginia.

Contents

Prologue Meat Me in St. Louis 1

Chapter 1 Atomic Meltdown 11

Chapter 2 Attaining Outcast Status 27

Chapter 3 "Dan Mathews: We Will Kill You" 43

Chapter 4 Young Hustler, Ancient Rome 59

Chapter 5 A Reluctant Revolutionary 75

Chapter 6 All the Rage 93

Chapter 7 DOOFNAC XEMI 111

Chapter 8 This Is a Raid 119

Chapter 9 An Alpine Diversion 143

Chapter 10 Cinderfella 161

Chapter 11 Ladies Who Lunch 189

Chapter 12 Bedlam 199

Chapter 13 Committed 221

Epilogue Dismal Swamp Thing 243

Acknowledgments 255