Customer Reviews

Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation

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America owes its liberty to the honeybee. That was the opinion of no other than George Washington. The story, recounted in _Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation_ (University Press of Kentucky) by Tammy Horn, is only one aspect of bee folklore, science, and history recounted in a delightful book full of anecdotes and facts which will spark admiration for this sometimes overlooked part of our nation's agriculture. The way the bees won the American Revolution is that a Quaker girl was given a message to deliver to Washington concerning an imminent attack by Cornwallis. The resourceful messenger realized she was being pursued by Redcoats, but as she galloped, she was able to overturn beehives in her path. The bees went after the Redcoats, Washington got his intelligence, and, well, the rest is history. Americans have always loved the honey bee not only for its delicious product (and the wax), but also because the hive is a symbol for a perfectly run society. Paradoxically, it is not a good symbol for our society. We are loosely organized, everyone joins in the pursuit of happiness in an idiosyncratic way, and we have no official religion, political party, or even family structure. Bees are little robots, and their regimented roles are fine for them, but not an example for our human ways. Their industry, however, we like; it is an admirable trait to be "as busy as a bee." We like that the bees make a home for themselves, and that they work hard to ensure that the home will be able to last the winter; they are thrifty, efficient animals. Americans are quite likely to think that if someone is poor, he ought to take a lesson from the bee.

Bees were transported, with great difficulty and much bee mortality, to the earliest of American colonies. They took to the new land as readily as the human immigrants, going wild and providing sustenance and employment for bee hunters (as opposed to beekeepers). Many Indians learned to value bees and their products, but one settler wrote that the Osage Indians in 1836 had held a day of mourning because they had found a swarm of bees; it was a sign that the Osage ways were doomed. Railroad men were horrified at the initial idea of hauling bees, and the man who convinced them to do so in 1907 had to ride along with his hives. _The American Bee Journal_ editorialized in 1903 that automobiles had a distinct advantage compared to horse-drawn wagons for carrying bees, because autos "...will never get frightened, run away and break things by being attacked by cross bees." The benefits to agriculture from bee pollination are so great that in California, especially with its almond orchards, beekeepers make more money by renting out bees for pollination than they do selling honey or wax.

Horn examines such topics as the rehabilitation of returning shell-shocked veterans by beekeeping, the tall tales that surround bees and bee hunters, the use of the bee example by sex educators (who used birds as well), the military use of bees to detect chemicals and explosives, bees in American literature and (disastrously) in movies like _The Swarm_, and the use of electronic tags on hives to deter bee rustlers. In an up-to-date discussion of current bee problems, ranging from bacteria to mites, beetles, El Ninő, and cheap imported honey, Horn (a beekeeper herself) reflects that the American beekeeping community is decreasing and bees are dying in record numbers. There are scientists working on solutions, like breeding hives of bees that will take punctilious and timely care to keep infections low before they can spread; there may also be genetic studies that will lead to more resistant bees. Horn winds up with the classic reflection that by trying to control bees all these centuries, we have learned many valuable lessons, but none so important as that bees (and nature in general) will never be completely controlled.

Excellent review of history of bees-beekeeping in America from a historical, cultural and global perspective. It is not a technically laden text. This would be a great book for extra credit reading - discussion for an American History college/university course. It is highly recommended for both general and scholarly readers.

This is a very enjoyable book. The author has taken a relatively unknown topic ( unless you're a beekeeper ), and written a book that is simply very interesting. She's blended history, science, economics, and even religion into a book that is easy to read. How did that jar of honey get into your shop ?
Why are people as diverse as rocker Tom Petty, disco diva Gloria Gaynor, and actor Peter Fonda included in a book about bees ? Not only did I learn why, but I liked the way the author took us on a journey thru bee-land.

Beekeeping in the American historical context.

Though the text is a bit academic, I picked up this book and couldn't put it down. I read it in about 3 days. The numerous ways that the honey bee and beekeeping has woven themselves into our history and culture is fascinating. Ms. Horn has done some tremendous research on the subject.

I am a professional beekeeper, so I know a little about bees. "Bees In America" was informative and lively reading. A welcomed addition to all my bee books. Abigail Keam - award winning author of "Death By A HoneyBee".

I am a fan of writers like H.W. Brands and David McCullough. I was hoping this book would be presented in a similar way (i.e. a narrow topic that is thoroughly covered yet enjoyable to read). I barely made it through the intro and first two chapters before throwing in the towel. This book is written for an academic audience who enjoys the abstract.

Tammy Horn has taken a bold tack in her sweeping history of beekeeping in "Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation." It is a bold title and indeed, maybe a little too bold. She endeavors to cover a lot of ground and to draw an analogy to the settlement of a nation with the spread of honeybees and beekeeping.

I found her writing was at its best when describing the history of the importation of honeybees from the old world, the spread and keeping of honeybees in the new world for pollinating those fruits and vegetables from the old world--but now being grown in the new world.

Perhaps her strongest chapter is the one in which she describes the effect upon American Indians in observing the "white man's fly." Here is insight into the trigger event for Indians to remove themselves from their historic grounds, for as the bees came in, so too would settlement and occupation of the land. The Indians realized that that once this happened, their historic way of life was gone. The "white man's fly" was the canary in the coal mine--a sign of danger, time to go. The Indians knew that along with settlement, the white man brought with him old world diseases which American Indians had little or no resistance to, which could decimate their numbers.

Other chapters in "Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation" are uneven. Some are stronger than others. The analogy that Tammy Horn pushes into the 20th century, "i.e., the shaping of America," is stretched a bit too far.

This book will not help a beekeeper keep bees. But that is not its purpose. I think it a strong first work. I would like to have seen a tighter, sharper focus with less editorial.

a very good book about the beekeeping and the history of bees
in a nation which envy by others

I've been keeping bees for 40 years and during that time have assimilated a lot of info from trade journals, academic texts, etc. I was pretty bored with the whole thing. I was not expecting a technical book but I just found it poorly edited.