The devil's milk: a social history of rubber

"Capital, as Marx once wrote, comes into the world "dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt." He might well have been describing the long, grim history of rubber. From the early stages of primitive accumulation to the heights of the industrial revolution and b...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Tully, John
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: New York 2011
Monthly Review Press
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19177429124919956019-The-devil-s-milk-a-social-hist.htm
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author Tully, John
author_facet Tully, John
collection Library items
description "Capital, as Marx once wrote, comes into the world "dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt." He might well have been describing the long, grim history of rubber. From the early stages of primitive accumulation to the heights of the industrial revolution and beyond, rubber is one of a handful of commodities that has played a crucial role in shaping the modern world, and yet, as John Tully shows in this remarkable book, laboring people around the globe have every reason to regard it as "the devil's milk." All the advancements made possible by rubber-industrial machinery, telegraph technology, medical equipment, countless consumer goods-have occurred against a backdrop of seemingly endless exploitation, conquest, slavery, and war. But Tully is quick to remind us that the vast terrain of rubber production has always been a site of struggle, and that the oppressed who toil closest to "the devil's milk" in all its forms have never accepted their immiseration without a fight. This book, the product of exhaustive scholarship carried out in many countries and several continents, is destined to become a classic. Tully tells the story of humanity's long encounter with rubber in a kaleidoscopic narrative that regards little as outside its range without losing sight of the commodity in question. With the skill of a master historian and the elegance of a novelist, he presents what amounts to a history of the modern world told through the multiple lives of rubber."
format TEXT
id 19177429124919956019_11c4a965693d4a61b6dc04b654291491
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 19177429124919956019_11c4a965693d4a61b6dc04b654291491
is_hierarchy_title The devil's milk: a social history of rubber
language English
physical 480 p.
Paper
publishDate 2011
publisher New York
Monthly Review Press
spellingShingle Tully, John
economic development
history
industrial production
rubber industry
working class
working conditions
The devil's milk: a social history of rubber
title The devil's milk: a social history of rubber
topic economic development
history
industrial production
rubber industry
working class
working conditions
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19177429124919956019-The-devil-s-milk-a-social-hist.htm