Gregg Mitman
ABOUT
Gregg Mitman is the Vilas Research and William Coleman Professor of History, Medical History, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Guest Research Professor at LMU’s Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society in Munich. He is an award-winning author, filmmaker, and teacher, whose interests span the history of science, medicine, and the environment in the United States and the world and include a commitment to environmental and social justice.
Over the last decade, Mitman has focused on a multimedia project—films, a book, and public history website—exploring the history and legacy of the Firestone Plantations Company in Liberia. He coproduced and codirected with Sarita Siegel two films, In the Shadow of Ebola, an intimate portrait of the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, and The Land Beneath Our Feet, a documentary on history, memory, and land rights in Liberia. His most recent book, Empire of Rubber: Firestone’s Scramble for Land and Power in Liberia, was published by The New Press in November 2021. A sweeping story of of capitalism, racial exploitation, environmental devastation, and resistance, Empire of Rubber was named One of the Best Books of the Fall by Bloomberg and was praised by Publishers Weekly in a starred review as a “harrowing and richly detailed account of U.S. tire manufacturer Firestone’s exploitation of Liberian workers in the 20th century.”
Mitman’s current research, Fragments of the Forest, for which he has received a €2.5 million European Research Council Advanced Grant, aims to discern the ecological, economic, political, and social forces at play that have turned fragments of the Upper Guinean rainforest in Liberia and Guinea into “hotspots” where biodiversity conservation concerns, emerging infectious disease threats, and resource extraction interests converge.
Mitman has been the recipient of fellowships from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the National Humanities Center, among others. He has been a guest on NPR’s Weekend Edition and Science Friday and his public writing has appeared in the Boston Globe, Denver Post, Huffington Post, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, New England Journal of Medicine, Orion Magazine, Slate, and Washington Post. A past president of the American Society for Environmental History, he is also the founding director of the Nelson Institute’s Center for Culture, History and Environment (CHE).
AFFILIATIONS
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Center for Culture, History, and Environment
Department of Medical History and Bioethics
Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies
Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
Ludwig Maximilian University
INTERVIEWS
PODCAST
“…about the bloody history behind our famous library”
If Everybody Knew, Episode 2 // February 22, 2022
PODCAST
Gregg Mitman on Firestone’s Rubber Empire in Liberia.
Who Makes ¢ents: A History of Capitalism Podcast // February 4, 2022
WEBINAR
Gregg Mitman with Kerri Arsenault:
How Liberia was transformed into America’s rubber empire
Twn Hall Seattle // Nov. 18, 2021
PODCAST
Empire of Rubber: Firestone’s Scramble for Land and Power in Liberia
New Books Network // Nov. 2, 2021
WEBINAR
Empire of Rubber: Firestone’s Scramble for Land and Power in Liberia
With Paul Farmer and Evelynn Hammonds
Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Harvard University
PODCAST
Bloodborne: Invasion and the Politics of Disease
Discovery & Inspiration, National Humanities Center // July 6, 20201
PODCAST
What lessons can the history of Ebola in West Africa offer as we face the COVID-19 pandemic
Ask a Historian // May 11, 2020
WEBINAR
The Geopolitics of Ebola and COVID-19
Pandemic, Creating a Usable Past: Epidemic History, COVID-19, and the Future of Health
Session 2 | Epidemics and Urban Centers: Different Cities, Disparate Experiences // May 8, 2020
PODCAST
Pandemic: A Letter from the Past
Science! with friends // April 1, 2020
WEB
Learning from Epidemics
College of Letters & Science,
University of Wisconsin-Madison // March 17, 2020
PODCAST
New Books in Environmental Studies
Future Remains: A Cabinet of Curiosities for the Anthropocene
NEW BOOKS NETWORK // AUGUST 29, 2018
The Documentary Impulse
Hanna Rose Shell, Gregg Mitman
TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE, 58 // JULY, 2017
The Land Beneath Our Feet: An Interview with Gregg Mitman by David Serlin
Radical History Review 127 // 2017// 187-196
RADIO
To the Best of our Knowledge
On Our Minds: Responding to Ebola
PRX // SEPTEMBER 28, 2014
RADIO
Central Time
Fear of Ebola And Its Impact On U.S. And West African Culture
WPR // OCTOBER 13, 2014
RADIO
Wisconsin Life
Ragweed
WPR // August 5, 2011
RADIO
The Larry Meiller Show
Breathing Space: How Allergies Shape Our Lives and Landscapes
WPR // OCTOBER 16, 2008
RADIO
Diane Rehm Show
Breathing Space
WAMU // June 26, 2007
RADIO
Weekend Edition Sunday
The Myths and Men Behind ‘King Kong’
NPR // OCTOBER 16, 2008
RADIO
Talk of the Nation
Science and Nature Filmmaking
NPR // FEBRUARY 28, 2003
Gregg Mitman is the Vilas Research and William Coleman Professor of History, Medical History, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Guest Research Professor at LMU’s Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society in Munich. He is an award-winning author, filmmaker, and teacher, whose interests span the history of science, medicine, and the environment in the United States and the world and include a commitment to environmental and social justice.
Over the last decade, Mitman has focused on a multimedia project—films, a book, and public history website—exploring the history and legacy of the Firestone Plantations Company in Liberia. He coproduced and codirected with Sarita Siegel two films, In the Shadow of Ebola, an intimate portrait of the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, and The Land Beneath Our Feet, a documentary on history, memory, and land rights in Liberia. His most recent book, Empire of Rubber: Firestone’s Scramble for Land and Power in Liberia, was published by The New Press in November 2021. A sweeping story of of capitalism, racial exploitation, environmental devastation, and resistance, Empire of Rubber was named One of the Best Books of the Fall by Bloomberg and was praised by Publishers Weekly in a starred review as a “harrowing and richly detailed account of U.S. tire manufacturer Firestone’s exploitation of Liberian workers in the 20th century.”
Mitman’s current research, Fragments of the Forest, for which he has received a €2.5 million European Research Council Advanced Grant, aims to discern the ecological, economic, political, and social forces at play that have turned fragments of the Upper Guinean rainforest in Liberia and Guinea into “hotspots” where biodiversity conservation concerns, emerging infectious disease threats, and resource extraction interests converge.
Mitman has been the recipient of fellowships from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the National Humanities Center, among others. He has been a guest on NPR’s Weekend Edition and Science Friday and his public writing has appeared in the Boston Globe, Denver Post, Huffington Post, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, New England Journal of Medicine, Orion Magazine, Slate, and Washington Post. A past president of the American Society for Environmental History, he is also the founding director of the Nelson Institute’s Center for Culture, History and Environment (CHE).
AFFILIATIONS
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Center for Culture, History, and Environment
Department of Medical History and Bioethics
Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies
Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
Ludwig Maximilian University
INTERVIEWS
PODCAST
“…about the bloody history behind our famous library”
If Everybody Knew, Episode 2 // February 22, 2022
PODCAST
Gregg Mitman on Firestone’s Rubber Empire in Liberia.
Who Makes ¢ents: A History of Capitalism Podcast // February 4, 2022
WEBINAR
Gregg Mitman with Kerri Arsenault:
How Liberia was transformed into America’s rubber empire
Twn Hall Seattle // Nov. 18, 2021
PODCAST
Empire of Rubber: Firestone’s Scramble for Land and Power in Liberia
New Books Network // Nov. 2, 2021
WEBINAR
Empire of Rubber: Firestone’s Scramble for Land and Power in Liberia. With Paul Farmer and Evelynn Hammonds
Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Harvard University
PODCAST
Bloodborne: Invasion and the Politics of Disease
Discovery & Inspiration, National Humanities Center // July 6, 20201
PODCAST
What lessons can the history of Ebola in West Africa offer as we face the COVID-19 pandemic
Ask a Historian // May 11, 2020
WEBINAR
The Geopolitics of Ebola and COVID-19
Pandemic, Creating a Usable Past: Epidemic History, COVID-19, and the Future of Health
Session 2 | Epidemics and Urban Centers: Different Cities, Disparate Experiences // May 8, 2020
PODCAST
Pandemic: A Letter from the Past
Science! with friends // April 1, 2020
WEB
Learning from Epidemics
College of Letters & Science,
University of Wisconsin-Madison // March 17, 2020
PODCAST
New Books in Environmental Studies
Future Remains: A Cabinet of Curiosities for the Anthropocene
NEW BOOKS NETWORK // AUGUST 29, 2018
The Documentary Impulse
Hanna Rose Shell, Gregg Mitman
TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE, 58 // JULY, 2017
The Land Beneath Our Feet: An Interview with Gregg Mitman by David Serlin
Radical History Review 127 // 2017// 187-196
RADIO
To the Best of our Knowledge
On Our Minds: Responding to Ebola
PRX // SEPTEMBER 28, 2014
RADIO
Central Time
Fear of Ebola And Its Impact On U.S. And West African Culture
WPR // OCTOBER 13, 2014
RADIO
Wisconsin Life
Ragweed
WPR // August 5, 2011
RADIO
The Larry Meiller Show
Breathing Space: How Allergies Shape Our Lives and Landscapes
WPR // OCTOBER 16, 2008
RADIO
Diane Rehm Show
Breathing Space
WAMU // June 26, 2007
RADIO
Weekend Edition Sunday
The Myths and Men Behind ‘King Kong’
NPR // OCTOBER 16, 2008
RADIO
Talk of the Nation
Science and Nature Filmmaking
NPR // FEBRUARY 28, 2003
© 2019 Gregg Mitman