Book description
" Honey bees--and the qualities associated with them--have
quietly influenced American values for four centuries. During every
major period in the country's history, bees and beekeepers have
represented order and stability in a country without a national
religion, political party, or language. Bees in America is an
enlightening cultural history of bees and beekeeping in the United
States. Tammy Horn, herself a beekeeper, offers a varied social and
technological history from the colonial period, when the British first
introduced bees to the New World, to the present, when bees are being
used by the American military to detect bombs. Early European
colonists introduced bees to the New World as part of an agrarian
philosophy borrowed from the Greeks and Romans. Their legacy was
intended to provide sustenance and a livelihood for immigrants in
search of new opportunities, and the honey bee became a sign of
colonization, alerting Native Americans to settlers' westward advance.
Colonists imagined their own endeavors in terms of bees' hallmark
traits of industry and thrift and the image of the busy and growing
hive soon shaped American ideals about work, family, community, and
leisure. The image of the hive continued to be popular in the
eighteenth century, symbolizing a society working together for the
common good and reflecting Enlightenment principles of order and
balance. Less than a half-century later, Mormons settling Utah (where
the bee is the state symbol) adopted the hive as a metaphor for their
protected and close-knit culture that revolved around industry,
harmony, frugality, and cooperation. In the Great Depression, beehives
provided food and bartering goods for many farm families, and during
World War II, the War Food Administration urged beekeepers to conserve
every ounce of beeswax their bees provided, as more than a million
pounds a year were being used in the manufacture of war products
ranging from waterproofing products to tape. The bee remains a
bellwether in modern America. Like so many other insects and animals,
the bee population was decimated by the growing use of chemical
pesticides in the 1970s. Nevertheless, beekeeping has experienced a
revival as natural products containing honey and beeswax have
increased the visibility and desirability of the honey bee. Still a
powerful representation of success, the industrious honey bee
continues to serve both as a source of income and a metaphor for
globalization as America emerges as a leader in the Information Age.
"Horn is at her sweetest when she works through the relevance
of bees in our literature, folklore, and music." -- Journal of
Appalachian Studies
