Gregg Mitman Knihy

"A well-rendered and -documented tale of exploitation in the developing world" (Kirkus Reviews) with deep resonance in the present day In a book Paul Farmer called "a gem of a social history linking two countries stuck in uncomfortable embrace for well over a century," award-winning author and filmmaker Gregg Mitman tells a sweeping story of capitalism, racial exploitation, and environmental devastation, as Firestone transformed Liberia into America's rubber empire. Scouring remote archives to unearth a story of promises unfulfilled for the vast numbers of Liberians who toiled on rubber plantations built on taken land, Mitman "peppers this history with a wealth of fascinating details and interesting characters" (Foreign Affairs), revealing a system of racial segregation and medical experimentation that reflected Jim Crow America--on African soil. Called "a brilliant, compelling read" by Princeton scholar Rob Nixon, Empire of Rubber, now available in paperback, provides a riveting narrative of ecology and disease, of commerce and science, and of racial politics and political maneuvering--the hidden story of a corporate empire whose tentacles reach into the present.

"In the first major analysis of American nature films in the twentieth century, Gregg Mitman shows how our cultural values, scientific needs, and new technologies produced the images that have shaped our contemporary view of wildlife." "Whether crafted to elicit thrills or to educate audiences about the real-life drama of threatened wildlife, nature films then and now reveal much about the yearnings of Americans to be both close to nature and yet distinctly apart."--Jacket