Fordlandia! Book featured on NPR

[REL]

This is very interesting...

"Grandin traces how Ford began escaping into the past by collecting antiques and founding rustic villages in Michigan that evoked the farm community of his childhood. When Brazilian officials dangled land in front of Ford, he saw a chance to begin the world anew. In 1927, Ford snapped up a parcel in the Amazon basin roughly the size of the state of Connecticut. For the next decade or so the father of standardized parts and sparkling factory cleanliness lost millions in an epic battle with the chaos that is the Amazon jungle."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=111297852

[Bigb23]

I remember something that was broadcast on the Discovery/History channel several years ago about Fordlandia. Quite interesting. Ford made the mistake of planting the rubber trees as a landscaped crop, instead of the natural forest enviroment it thrived in, so everything failed quickly. Also, he imposed his moral values on the workers there, as far as drinking and sex, and they just went downriver on the weekends to fulfill their urges, or just disappeared.

I searched Youtube for a link, but could find none.

[jiminnm]

This is an interesting summary of Fordlandia history.
http://www.damninteresting.com/the-ruins-of-fordlandia