Rubber in Mesoamerican civilizations -- Rubber in the industrial revolution -- The dark side of the rubber revolution -- The Amazon rubber boom -- The lives of the Seringueiros -- There is no sin beyond the equator -- Heart of darkness: rubber and blood on the Congo -- Gutta-Percha, telegraphs, imperialism, and ecology -- "Rubber's home town" -- The 1913 IWW strike at Akron -- Sisters, brothers, unite! The Rubber Workers' Union in Akron -- The triumph of Plantation Hevea -- The planters' world -- The coolie diaspora -- The coolies' world -- Coolie revolts -- The long road to Monowitz -- Monowitz: "a bulwark of Germandom" -- The only way out is up the chimney -- The allied struggle for rubber in the Second World War -- War is good for business