An ambitious and shocking exposé of America\'s hidden Empire in Liberia, run by the storied Firestone corporation, and its long shadow In the early 1920s, Americans owned 80 percent of the world\'s automobiles and consumed 75 percent of the world\'s rubber.
He lives near Madison, Wisconsin..
An award-winning author and filmmaker, his recent films and books include The Land Beneath Our Feet and Breathing Space: How Allergies Shape Our Lives and Landscapes .
About author(s): Gregg Mitman is the Vilas Research and William Coleman Professor of History, Medical History, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A riveting narrative of ecology and disease, of commerce and science, and of racial politics and political maneuvering, Empire of Rubber uncovers the hidden story of a corporate Empire whose tentacles reach into the present.
As Firestone reaped fortunes, wealth and Power concentrated in the hands of a few elites, fostering widespread inequalities that fed unrest, rebellions and, eventually, civil war.
Mitman reveals a history of racial segregation and medical experimentation that reflected Jim Crow America--on African soil.
Historian and filmmaker Gregg Mitman scoured remote archives to unearth a history of promises unfulfilled for the vast numbers of Liberians who toiled on rubber plantations built on taken land.
Empire of Rubber tells a sweeping story of capitalism, racial exploitation, and environmental devastation, as Firestone transformed Liberia into America\'s rubber empire.
To solve its conundrum, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company turned to a tiny West African nation, Liberia, founded in 1847 as a free Black republic. flag, creating a bottleneck that hampered the nation\'s explosive economic expansion.
But only one percent of the world\'s rubber grew under the U.
S.
An ambitious and shocking exposé of America\'s hidden Empire in Liberia, run by the storied Firestone corporation, and its long shadow In the early 1920s, Americans owned 80 percent of the world\'s automobiles and consumed 75 percent of the world\'s rubber
