The silken thread : five insects and their impacts on human history / Robert N. Wiedenmann and J. Ray Fisher.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wiedenmann, Robert N., author.

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Insects--History.

Insects.

Silkworms--History.

Silkworms.

Insect pests--History.

Insect pests.

Insects as carriers of disease--History.

Insects as carriers of disease.

Insects as carriers of plant disease--History.

Insects as carriers of plant disease.

History.

Silk Road--History.

Silk Road.

Asia--Silk Road.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xxi, 268 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2021]

Summary:

"Insects are seldom mentioned in history texts, yet they significantly shaped human history. The Silken Thread: Five Insects and Their Impacts on History tells the stories of just five insects, tied together by a thread originating in the Silk Roads of Asia, and how they have impacted our world. Silkworms have been farmed to produce silk for millennia, creating a history of empires and cultural exchanges; Silk Roads connected East to West, generating trade centers and transferring ideas, philosophies, and religions. The western honey bee feeds countless people, and their crop pollination is worth billions of dollars. Fleas and lice carried bacteria that caused three major plague pandemics, moved along the Silk Roads from Central Asia. Bacteria carried by insects left their ancient clues as DNA embedded in victims' teeth. Lice caused outbreaks of typhus, especially in crowded conditions such as prisons and concentration camps. Typhus aggravated the effects of the Irish potato famine, and Irish refugees took typhus to North America. Yellow fever was transported to the Americas via the trans-Atlantic slave trade, taking and devaluing the lives of millions of Africans. Slaves were brought to the Americas to reduce labor costs in the cultivation of sugarcane, which was itself transported from south Asia along the Silk Roads. Yellow fever caused panic in the United States in the 1700s and 1800s as the virus and its mosquito vector migrated from the Caribbean. Constructing the Panama Canal required defeating mosquitoes that transmitted yellow fever. The silken thread runs through and ties together these five insects and their impacts on history"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Moth Spit

Silkworms

Breeding for Silk

Agricultural Revolutions

Silk

Sericulture

Silk as Currency

Silk and Other Ancient Fabrics

2. The Silk Roads

Nomads, Horses, and Silk

The Royal Roads

The Silk Roads-Hexi Corridor and Tarim Basin

The Silk Roads-Sogdiana

Caravanserais

Samarkand and Bukhara

The Emir, the Ark, and the Pit

Silk, Spices, Religion

The Decline Begins

Mongol Domination

Not the End-Change

Notes

3. Silk Goes East and West

Expanding the Roads

Silk Goes East

Silk Goes West

Silk-Making Moves

Silk Intrigue

Silk in the Byzantine Empire

Silk Goes to Europe

The Jacquard Loom and Its Impacts 55 Notes

4. In Reverse Order-The Third Pandemic First

The Beginning

Rodents

The Third Plague Pandemic

Discovery

Mechanisms

Fleas

And More Fleas

Plague, Again

Explanations, Missed Opportunities

5. Not Just the Plague

The Dark Ages

Justinian and the Byzantine Empire

The First Pandemic

The Pandemic Continues

The Black Death Appears

Pathways for the Plague

Spread in Europe

Two Pandemics

6. Sorting Out the Plague

Investigating the Plague

The Pathogen

The Routes

Mammal Hosts

Was It the Rats?

Insect Vectors

Other Fleas

Was It Fleas?

The Story Continues

Other Implications

7. The Plague, One More Time

Attempted Eradication

Introduction to Bioweapons

Japanese Bioweapons: Diseases and Insects

Unit 731

Desperate Moves

8. Lice in War and Peace

Introducing the Amazing Louse

An Unexpected Tangent

Body Lice

Jail Fever

Lice and the Great Hunger

Coffin Ships

Lice and Typhus

Lice in War Time

Lessons Learned

9. The Bridge Connecting Silkworms to Mosquitos

Sugar

Sugarcane

From Ancient Origins

Portugal, Prince Henry, and Madeira

Infamy

The Slave Trade Begins

Sugar-and Slaves-On the Move

Stealing a People

Voyages, Perils, and History

10. Yellow Fever in the United States

Outbreaks in the Southern United States

"Yellow Jack" Moves to Memphis

Means of Escape

Cause of the Disease

Weaponized Yellow Fever

The Carrier-Aedes aegypti

From Africa to the Americas

The State of Knowledge

Understanding

11. The Caribbean, Carlos Finlay, Walter Reed, and Serendipity

Sugar Connects to Slavery

Early Players

A Singular Obsession

Unknown, but Connected, Discoveries

Short, Deadly War

Walter Reed Enters the Fray

Back to Finlay

"Absolutely Incontrovertible Demonstration"

"Silliest Beyond Compare"-But Correct

12. William Crawford Gorgas and the Panama Canal

Right Person for the Job

Eradicate Mosquitos?

Circling the Enemy

Connecting the Oceans

Panama Is Not the Suez

Picking Up the Pieces

Re-Enter Colonel William Gorgas

Mosquitos Meet Their Match

The Preposterous and Impossible Plan Worked

13. Six-Legged Livestock

Pollen and Pollination

Bees

Bee Behavior and Products

Origin and Movement

Beekeeping Begins

Ancient Beekeeping

Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee

Expansion to the West

Importance of Bees to Almonds

Bees in Trouble

14. Tying the Silken Threads

Impacts-Measurable and Immeasurable

History That Is Not Found in History Books

Egypt, Syria, and Fleas

Haiti, Slave Revolt, and Yellow Fever

The Cold Winter and Lice

Never Doubt for a Moment.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: N. Wiedenmann, Robert. Silken thread

ISBN:

9780197555583

0197555586

OCLC:

1257315904

Publisher Number:

99988572931