The honey bee is a willing conscript, a working wonder, an unseen and crucial link in America’s agricultural industry. But never before has its survival been so unclear—and the future of our food supply so acutely challenged.

Enter beekeeper John Miller, who trucks his hives around the country, bringing millions of bees to farmers otherwise bereft of natural pollinators. Even as the mysterious and deadly epidemic known as Colony Collapse Disorder devastates bee populations across the globe, Miller forges ahead with the determination and wry humor of a true homespun hero. The Beekeeper’s Lament tells his story and that of his bees, making for a complex, moving, and unforgettable portrait of man in the new natural world.