Barbed Wire: An Ecology of Modernity

285 Pages·2009·2.034 MB·English

by  Reviel Netz

barbed wire
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Barbed Wire
An Ecology of Modernity
r e v i e l n e t z
Wesleyan University Press middletown, connecticut
Published by Wesleyan University Press,
Middletown, CT 06459
www.wesleyan.edu/wespress
©2004by Reviel Netz
All rights reserved
First Wesleyan paperback 2009
Printed in the United States ofAmerica 5 4 3 2 1
isbn for the paperback edition: 978-0-8195-6959-2
Set in Ehrhardt type by
BW&A Books, Inc., Durham, NC
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
appear on the last printed page ofthe book.
To Maya and Darya
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contents
List ofMaps and Figures viii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
one: expansion
The American West and the Invention ofBarbed Wire 1
1. Unpacking the Louisiana Purchase 2
2. How to Fence a Cow 16
3. How to Fence the World 39
two: confrontation
Barbed Wire on the Battlefield 56
1. Conquest by Iron 60
2. Crisis ofthe Horse 73
3. Perfection ofthe Obstacle 90
4. The Obstacle Triumphant 105
three: containment
Barbed Wire in the Concentration Camps 128
1. The Control ofNations 131
2. Enemy People 146
3. Tractors to Ukraine 160
4. Trains to Auschwitz 194
Epilogue 228
Notes 239
References 251
Index 261
maps and figures
maps
1. Centers for delivery ofbarbed wire, United States, 1888 52
2. Centers for production ofbarbed wire, United States, 1881 53
3. Lines ofbarbed wire, South Africa, 1902 68
4. Waltham, Lincolnshire, before enclosure 84
5. Waltham, Lincolnshire, after enclosure 85
6. Castle Mountain Internment Camp 157
7. The camp on PopoffIsland 164
8. Belzec Camp, fall–winter 1942 211
9. Sobibor Camp 212
10. Treblinka Camp, spring 1943 213
figures
1. Division ofa large space into smaller enclosed areas 67
2. Price ofbarbed wire, United States, July 1914–July 1917 113
acknowledgments
Research for this book was begun when I was at MIT as a fellow at
the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology.
Then, and since, I was fortunate to have access to important col-
lections: at Harvard, the Widener Library and the Baker Business
Library (housing the U.S. Steel and Wire Company archive); at
Stanford—where I teach—the Green Library and the Hoover In-
stitute Library. During my stay in Moscow (teaching for the Stan-
ford Overseas Program), I studied at the archive ofthe Memorial
Society, with its unique collection of unpublished memoirs from
the Stalinist era. I am filled with gratitude to the staffs ofall those
libraries—a gratitude multiplied by wonder and admiration at
the selfless generosity ofthe members ofthe Memorial Society in
Moscow.
Myles Burnyeat, Paul Laity, Richard Milner, Tom Radko, and
Suzanna Tamminen have all, in turn, read my original manuscript
and convinced me to proceed with it, first in abbreviated form
as an article published by the London Review ofBooks(July 2000),
then as this book. Further comments were made by many friends
and colleagues, ofwhom I mention just a few: Maya Arad, Moritz
Epple, Lori Gruen, Arne Hessenbruch, Marie Huong Nguyen,
Andrea Nightingale, Leonard S. Reich, Aron Rodrigue, Relli
Shechter, Walter Scheidel, Amanda Vinson, James R. Voelkel,
Kelly DeVries, and Nicolas Wey-Gomez, as well as two anony-
mous readers for Wesleyan University Press. Maya Arad, in par-
ticular, has commented on the manuscript several times over,
guiding it as it achieved its style. Responsibility, of course, re-
mains with the author.
Ariel Tsovel’s research and activism inspire my own work in
animal history. He wanted me to produce work with both intellec-
tual and political dimensions; I hope I did.