"The book’s design and illustrations are beautiful, which means, I suspect, that Cow will be probably bought most often as a gift--for country lovers, perhaps. . . . Velten has a passion for her subject and it comes across. Her account is sweeping but precisely detailed and subtly persuasive. . . . Look hard at cows and you learn about humans. Fascinating and delightful."

Carola Groom | Financial Times Magazine

"The book feels comprehensive despite its size, for Velten’s writing is meticulously well researched. . . . She makes fascinating detours into domestication, breeding, art, religion, BSE, stampedes and the rodeo, and the section on African pastoralism is particularly evocative. . . . Velten’s passion for the cow works subtly, incrementally becoming the narrative which binds the text together, and her insights into this seminal beast leave us wanting more."

Patrick Evans | Times Literary Supplement

"A fascinating paperback . . . A fascinating mix of history, myth and record prices paid for top breeding animals."

Eastern Daily Press

"She aims to help us see the animals that produce beef, milk and leather as mythical and awe inspiring."

Country Smallholding

"Considering the central role that cows have played in cultures around the world, it is remarkable how rarely an author has undertaken to devote an entire book to the complex history of this commendable animal. All the more welcome, therefore, is Hannah Velten’s Cow, a brief but eminently readable book positively crammed with every sort of cattle lore."

Richard Bullie | Agricultural History