Fordlandia : the rise and fall of Henry Ford's forgotten jungle city

The stunning, never before told story of the quixotic attempt to recreate small-town America in the heart of the AmazonIn 1927, Henry Ford, the richest man in the world, bought a tract of land twice the size of Delaware in the Brazilian Amazon. His intention was to grow rubber, but the project rapidly evolved into a more ambitious bid to export America itself, along with its golf courses, ice-cream shops, bandstands, indoor plumbing, and Model Ts rolling down broad streets. Fordlandia, as the settlement was called, quickly became the site of an epic clash. On one side was the car magnate, lean, austere, the man who reduced industrial production to its simplest motions; on the other, the Amazon, lush, extravagant, the most complex ecological system on the planet. Ford’s early success in imposing time clocks and square dances on the jungle soon collapsed, as indigenous workers, rejecting his midwestern Puritanism, turned the place into a ribald tropical boomtown. Fordlandia’s eventual demise as a rubber plantation foreshadowed the practices that today are laying waste to the rain forest. More than a parable of one man’s arrogant attempt to force his will on the natural world, Fordlandia depicts a desperate quest to salvage the bygone America that the Ford factory system did much to dispatch. As Greg Grandin shows in this gripping and mordantly observed history, Ford’s great delusion was not that the Amazon could be tamed but that the forces of capitalism, once released, might yet be contained. Fordlandia is a 2009 National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction. The stunning, never before told story of the quixotic attempt to recreate small-town America in the heart of the Amazon. In 1927, Henry Ford, the richest man in the world, bought a tract of land twice the size of the U.S. state of Delaware in the Brazilian Amazon. His intention was to grow rubber, but the project rapidly evolved into a more ambitious bid to export America itself, along with its golf courses, ice-cream shops, bandstands, indoor plumbing, and Model Ts rolling down broad streets. Fordlandia , as the settlement was called, quickly became the site of an epic clash. On one side was the car magnate, lean, austere, the man who reduced industrial production to its simplest motions; on the other, the Amazon, lush, extravagant, the most complex ecological system on the planet. Ford's early success in imposing time clocks and square dances on the jungle soon collapsed, as indigenous workers, rejecting his midwestern Puritanism, turned the place into a ribald tropical boomtown. Fordlandia's eventual demise as a rubber plantation foreshadowed the practices that today are laying waste to the rain forest. More than a parable of one man's arrogant attempt to force his will on the natural world, Fordlandia depicts a desperate quest to salvage the bygone America that the Ford factory system did much to dispatch. As Greg Grandin shows in this gripping and mordantly observed history, Ford's great delusion was not that the Amazon could be tamed but that the forces of capitalism, once released, might yet be contained. The Stunning, Never-before-told Story Of The Quixotic Attempt To Recreate Small-town America In The Heart Of The Amazon, Fordlandia Depicts A Desperate Quest To Salvage The Bygone America That The Ford Factory System Did Much To Dispatch. Introduction : Nothing Is Wrong With Anything -- Pt. 1. Many Things Otherwise Inexplicable. -- Under An American Flag -- The Cow Must Go -- Absolute Americanisms -- That's Where We Sure Can Get Gold -- Fordville -- They Will All Die -- Everything Jake -- When Ford Comes -- Pt. 2. Lord Ford. -- Two Rivers -- Smoke And Ash -- Prophesied Subjection -- The Ford Way Of Thinking -- What Would You Give For A Good Job? -- Let's Wander Out Yonder -- Kill All The Americans -- Pt. 3. Rubber Rouge. -- American Pastoral -- Good Lines, Straight And True -- Mountains Of The Moon -- Only God Can Grow A Tree -- Standard Practices -- Bonfire Of The Caterpillars -- Fallen Empire Of Rubber -- Tomorrow Land -- Epilogue : Still Waiting For Henry Ford. Greg Grandin. Map On Liner Pages. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [373]-398) And Index. Introduction : Nothing is wrong with anything Part 1 : Many things otherwise inexplicable. Under an American flag The cow must go Absolute Americanisms That's where we sure can get gold Fordville They will all die Everything Jake When Ford comes Part 2 : Lord Ford. Two rivers Smoke and ash Prophesied subjection The Ford way of thinking What would you give for a good job? Let's wander out yonder Kill all the Americans Part 3 : Rubber Rouge. American pastoral Good lines, straight and true Mountains of the moon Only God can grow a tree Standard practices Bonfire of the caterpillars Fallen empire of rubber Tomorrow land Epilogue : Still waiting for Henry Ford Nothing is Wrong with Anything Many Things Otherwise Inexplicable Under an American Flag The Cow Must Go Absolute Americanisms That's Where We Sure Can Get Gold Fordville They Will All Die Everything Jake When Ford Comes Lord Ford Two Rivers Smoke and Ash Prophesied Subjection The Ford Way of Thinking What Would You Give for a Good Job? Let's Wander Out Yonder Kill All the Americans Rubber Rouge American Pastoral Good Lines, Straight and True Mountains of the Moon Only God Can Grow a Tree Standard Practices Bonfire of the Catepillars Fallen Empire of Rubber Tomorrow Land Still Waiting for Henry Ford Notes Illustration Credits Acknowledgements Index In response to Britian's attempt to establish a rubber cartel, Henry Ford started Fordlandia, a rubber plantation in the Brazilian rain forest. Rain-forest biology made running a rubber plantation difficult; Ford's ideas about expertise, labor relations, and culture made it effectively impossible; changing economic and political circumstances eventually made the rubber plantation impractical. The story of the auto magnate's attempt to recreate small-town America, along with a rubber plantation, in the heart of the Amazon details the clash between Ford and the jungle and its inhabitants, as the tycoon attempted to force his will on the natural world. January 9, 1928: Henry Ford was in a spirited mood as he toured the Ford Industrial Exhibit with his son, Edsel, and his aging friend Thomas Edison, feigning fright at the flash of news cameras as a circle of police officers held back admirers and reporters.