Clark Hays's Reviews > Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City

Dense, like the rainforest, and just as rich

Note: this review first appeared on Amazon

I don't normally believe in reincarnation, but it's hard not to think I've spent some previous life in the Amazon given my favorite books - of which I now rank Fordlandia - focus on Brazil. It was great to see the other three - Thief at the End of the World, the River of Doubt, The Jungle and the Sea - all mentioned in this fascinating look at Henry Ford's failed experiment in the jungle.

This was a well-researched, highly engaging work that was, comparatively, slow going simply because there was so much to cover. It's really three books in one - the rise of Ford and the associated true beginning of the industrial age in America, the creation of Fordlandia in Brazil, and - in an unsatisfying epilogue - the current imperiled state of the Amazon as sprouted up from the attempts to industrialize natural processes (rubber harvesting). I say unsatisfying only because I wanted more.

In fact, the entire book left me hungrier for a more substantial treatment of each segment - I was surprised by how much I don't know about Ford and his factories and really wanted to know what happened to his right hand man (enforcer) Bennett. (Note: I will look into it, and suggestions are welcome - just comment on the review.)

My panama hat is off to the author for this great work. And I was especially moved by this sentence: "The arrogance, though, is not that Henry Ford thought he could tame the Amazon but that he believed that the forces of capitalism, once released, could still be contained."

Much was made of Ford never visiting his model city, but I certainly would like to make a trip there - now, after reading this - someday.