Brooklyn Goes Home: The Rise and Fall of American Greyhound Racing and the Dog That Inspired a Movement

Nonfiction Book Awards Silver Winner
IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award Silver Winner
Nautilus Book Awards Silver Winner
American Book Fest Awards Finalist
Book Excellence Awards Finalist

Brooklyn Goes Home is the true story of how one greyhound sparked a movement to close the worst dog track in the world. After spending eight years in a small, dark, and empty concrete cell, he finally found his forever home with greyhound advocates Christine Dorchak and Carey Theil.
 
We once met a dog that changed the world. His name was Brooklyn. It’s hard to imagine that a spotted dog would become the inspiration for a worldwide fight; that the campaign would be successful, and that after a decade of suffering, he would come home to us. And yet it happened. In fact, the thirteen short years that Brooklyn spent on this earth would turn out to be one of the most consequential periods in history for greyhounds, and for the broader debate on non-human animal rights. The life of this one dog signaled not only the end of greyhound racing in the United States, but also the emergence of the first successful movement to outlaw an animal abuse industry that was powerful, culturally resonant, and economically significant.

This history is based on the memories and reflections of Christine Dorchak and Carey Theil and describes twenty years of working together to help greyhounds. The two grew up more than a decade apart, on alternate coasts, one raised very traditionally and the other quite liberally, one an animal loving “Jersey Girl” turned lawyer, the other a poet and chess master turned political strategist. This Yin and Yang turned out to be a curious balance of opposites that is perhaps the reason that the organization survived and then succeeded against very great odds.

Brooklyn Goes Home is the story of the rise and fall of commercial greyhound racing in the United States and an account of how one small non-profit emerged to make an impact. It is also a remembrance of three glorious years spent with a magical dog. Readers will find inspiration in this chronicle, and perhaps discover new paths to making positive change in the world.

Christine Dorchak and Carey Theil are the co-founders of GREY2K USA Worldwide. An attorney, Christine specializes in pari-mutuel law and has drafted laws to successfully prohibit dog racing in several states and countries. She has been featured in national publications including the Huffington Post, Forbes, and American Dog. A long-distance runner, she has competed in seven Boston Marathons. Carey has decades of legislative experience and has been quoted in hundreds of news articles about greyhound racing published across the globe. In his free time, Carey volunteers for various non-profit organizations and is a National Master in chess.