“In this brilliant and powerfully moving narrative of the Firestone Tire Company’s activities in Liberia, Gregg Mitman provides an unprecedented account of the destructive power of racial capitalism on colonized bodies and ecologies . . . Empire of Rubber is unique in its exposition of the connection between the Firestone company and elite American universities and unrivaled in its account of the valiant fight Liberians put up to maintain their autonomy.”—Simon Gikandi, Robert Schirmer Professor of English, Princeton University, and author of Slavery and the Culture of Taste |
“Gregg Mitman provides an accessible, compelling, and monumental account of the surprisingly American history of Liberia.”—Science for the People |
“In this brilliantly rendered, epic tale of American racial capitalism in West Africa, Gregg Mitman details the profound and devastating effects of plantation agriculture. In the process he unearths the political and legal machinations of Firestone rubber in undermining Black sovereignty, and reveals the violence of corporate philanthropy in the guise of development.”—Julie Livingston, professor of history, and social and cultural analysis at New York University, MacArthur fellow, and author of Improvising Medicine |
“With the Firestone archives closed to him, Gregg Mitman has to strain for a clear view of how Harvey Firestone transformed a small Liberian rubber plantation into a Goliath that broke a British monopoly on latex. But Mitman’s lack of access to company archives makes Empire of Rubber a better book. He finds plenty of Liberians and Americans, or the archives and accounts left by their predecessors and by dissident scholars, to fill in the blanks. The reader is left with a gem of a social history linking two countries stuck in uncomfortable embrace for well over a century.”—Paul Farmer, Kolokotrones University Professor and chair of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard University, and author of Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History |
“[Empire of Rubber] documents the fragile arrangement between Firestone and the Liberian government that has existed for 95 years, surviving civil war and power plays on both sides, proving lucrative for some while causing great devastation with its racism and the depletion of natural resources.”—Booklist |
“A fascinating and enlightening page-turner that uncovers Liberia’s often-overlooked importance in U.S. history.”—Foreign Policy |
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“Superbly crafted. . . . Empire of Rubber is primarily a portrait of power as it was and is exercised through American capital.”—Africa Is a Country |
“Gregg Mitman has delivered a brilliant, compelling read. Empire of Rubber draws together the long history of commodity colonialism, the imperial roots of Liberia’s recent civil war, and the fraught relations between American medical institutions and racism at home and abroad. Empire of Rubber dramatizes intersectional thinking at its very best.”—Rob Nixon, Barron Family Professor of Environment and Humanities, Princeton University, and author of Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor |
“A harrowing and richly detailed account of U.S. tire manufacturer Firestone’s exploitation of Liberian workers in the 20th century . . . Mitman marshals a wealth of material to make his case, which encompasses ecological injustice, racial capitalism, and medical racism. The result is a devastating exposé of the tensions between ‘the interests of white capital and the desire for Black self-determination.’”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) |
“A well-rendered and -documented tale of exploitation in the developing world.”—Kirkus Reviews |
“Mitman peppers this history with a wealth of fascinating details and interesting characters.”—Foreign Affairs |
“Calls into question Western ideas of progress, and powerfully traces the results of the Firestone experiment to the war and poverty that would wrack the nation.”—Shelf Awareness |
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