Reading this book with 20/20 hindsight, it is easy to see American hubris at its worst. Henry Ford wanted a supply of rubber for his cars, and he didn’t want to rely on Southeast Asia. Brazil was eager for economic development, and environmental issues weren’t a concern at the time.

One example was the decision to build structures modeled on Ford’s company towns in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. What worked well in the short, dry summers and long, cold winters of northern Michigan did not do very well in a tropical rainforest.

While the Amazon region was conducive to rubber trees, in nature they grew interspersed among other flora. These same trees did well in Malaysia grown in plantations, because they were immune to local pests. Plantation growth of local rubber trees in the Amazon region, however, was a recipe for disaster, since an outbreak of tree blight can spread very quickly. That was, in fact, what happened.

Ford did try to pay his workers a decent wage — much more than the prevailing wage in that part of Brazil at the time. This principle worked well for a time in Detroit. His workers made enough money that they could afford to buy the cars they made. There wasn’t any way to spend this income in Fordlândia.

The book does highlight some of the less desirable qualities of Ford: His antisemitism, his desire to control how his workers lived their lives during their time away from work, and the strong-arm tactics of Harry Bennett, to name a few.

One annoyance of Greg Grandin’s was his continual reference to the Ford Motor Company as Ford Motors. It is an otherwise compelling read.

Grandin, Greg,. 2009. Fordlandia : The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City. New York: Metropolitan Books.