HISTORIANS LIKE TO ORGANIZE THEIR SUBJECT AROUND A single overarching theme. All of American history, for example, can be understood in terms of slavery and its aftermath, or the changing roles of women, or the development of technology. In the movie Zoolander (2001), American history is presented as a series of conspiracies by the fashion industry. Perhaps the most ambitious effort yet along these lines will be published this spring: Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation , by Tammy Horn (University Press of Kentucky, 368 pages, $27.50).
Since honeybees are not native to North America, their spread has paralleled that of the European settlers. Indians learned that when honeybees appeared, the white man was on his way. And as America industrialized, so did beekeeping. The key development was Lorenzo Langstroth’s 1851 discovery of “bee space,” which made it possible to keep bee colonies in boxes and slide individual combs in and out like drawers. With improvements in such things as smokers, honey extractors, and prefabricated combs, the beekeeping industry has been a leader in scientific agriculture.
Bees have played a role in war as well. At Antietam in 1862 a farmer’s beehives got overturned, and the liberated insects mercilessly harassed the Union soldiers. A similar incident in 1864 caused both sides to suspend a battle at Okolona, Arkansas. In World War II beeswax had 350 military uses, from waterproofing and lubrication to sunscreens and camouflage paint. During the Cold War, scientists used honeybees to gather radioactive pollen after atomic-bomb tests, and today bees are being trained to detect bombs, mines, and chemical weapons. From the honey producers of ancient times to today’s military scouts, bees have always been at the center of history, and Tammy Horn’s book gives an excellent overview of how and why.
