Given the scope and richness of its coverage, Clay's survey will remain a “go-to book” for scholars of beekeeping in Russian and Soviet history for many years to come. Her robustly documented survey offers an overarching framework through which to situate the honeybee, beekeeping, and honeybee products in Russian and Soviet imperial, economic, and social history.

The Russian Review

“Honey was an essential part of daily life for centuries with its prominence only threatened by the modern sugar beet industry as the preferred sweetener. Catherine Clay provides a service to the field by recovering 1000 years of beekeeping history in East Slavic lands, blending together insights drawn from agriculture and ecology, material culture and trade, and folklore and society to produce a unique study that is long overdue.”

Matthew P. Romaniello, Weber State University