Fordlandia

We have all become so used to seeing Ford commercials that we don't realize the prolific influence the company has had in the world or in the early years of American industrialization. Most everyone (I hope! I know a lot of people don't follow History like they should) knows who Henry Ford was, but not many know of his colonial misadventure in Brazil--the factory town known as Fordlandia (pronounced Fordland-jee-a in Portuguese). This huge and megalomaniacal effort represented, ultimately another attempt by man to domesticate and control nature, in this case, the Amazon jungle. Add to that Ford's jingoistic attitude of engaging in 'work of civilization,' by lifting the standards of living of the inhabitants of the jungle to those of the U.S.

I am currently reading Greg Grandin's excellent book Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City and find it to be an excellent survey of not only Ford's arrogant go-it-alone approach to South America and a revealing look at how an industrial powerhouse ultimately lost its battle with nature. This is a story, in its many manifestations, that never ceases to fascinate us. Grandin is an excellent writer and researcher and he is very thorough in presenting this fascinating footnote of history to us. In the end, just like Mr. Ford's dreams, Fordlandia ended up in ruins and abandonment.