Henry Bailey Stevens

Henry Bailey Stevens (13 July 1891 – 16 March 1976) was an American author, playwright and vegetarianism activist. Biography

Stevens was born in 1891 in Hooksett, New Hampshire. He graduated from Manchester Central High School and Dartmouth College. From 1912, he worked for the Woman's Journal, a women's rights periodical in Boston. Stevens directed the University of New Hampshire Agricultural Station and Cooperative Extension Service from 1918 until his retirement in 1956.

Vegetarianism

Stevens and his wife were associated with the Millennium Guild, an animal rights organization. In 1949, Curtis Freshel awarded $1,000 to Stevens for the best humanitarian work of the year.

Stevens believed that humans were originally pacifists and vegetarians. He authored The Recovery of Culture, in 1949. The book argues that early humans made the mistake of changing from vegetarianism to flesh-eating and that soil erosion, starving peoples and war is the result. He recommended for people to return to an agricultural plant based culture.

Stevens was a vice-president of the International Vegetarian Union. He attended the 1975 World Vegetarian Congress.

Death

Stevens died from natural causes on 16 March 1976 at the age of 85.

Selected publications

A Cry Out of the Dark (1919) All Alone in the Country (1921) Tolstoy: A Play in Seven Scenes (1928) The Recovery of Culture (1949, with a foreword by Gerald Heard) Para-Desa (1975, with a foreword by Richard Eberhart)