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.
#39727 in Books Shilts; Randy 2007-11-27 2007-11-27Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.22 x 42.67 x 5.46l; 1.30 #File Name: 0312374631656 pagesGriffin
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. An Education in HubrisBy Randy EhrlerThis is a fantastic book about a horrible disease. It is; in many ways; a journalistic masterpiece. Randy Shilts plays no favorites in his telling of the origins; rapid spread and search for a treatment for H.I.V. / AIDS in the early 1980's. Everyone is held accountable for his or her part in this epidemic. Ultimately; this is a story about unchecked appetites.AIDS grew out of a lifestyle of sexual promiscuity. This is not a condemnation of gays. It is a condemnation of the belief that we can do whatever we want; wherever we want; with whomever we want as often as we want. So many of the challenges in modern life are outgrowths of this thinking. Diabetes; obesity; cancer; and bankruptcy - I could go on - are modern maladies that result from our behaviors - our choices and our failure to live within the "margins." As a society; we consume too much; do too much; and allow too much of everything - food; sex; media; sugar; alcohol; etc. Unchecked appetites. Our bodies are not designed for this level of consumption. They cannot process the sheer volume of "stuff" we ingest and expose them to on a daily basis. The logical outgrowth is disease.I admire Shilts for his honest portrayal of everyone involved in the story. As a gay man who later died of AIDS; he did not let his own community off the hook for their behavior. Or the media and general public who reacted with fear rather than sympathetic and open hearts. Nor did he go easy on the medical establishment and governmental agencies that managed this disease with ego; greed and hubris rather than compassion and love.Another element this story so beautifully portrays is how the human ego can so horribly muck things up. Like many of the "diseases" of modern living - there was a great deal of money to be made - and egos to be stroked - in the treatment of AIDS. So many people serve themselves - often contributing to the spread and extended life of a malady because their pride is fed by; and they profit greatly from; their role in it. I look at the drug companies; the medical industry; disease associations (American Cancer Society; et al.) and other supporting characters - millions are made off of every disease - so much that you wonder if a cure is truly desired. What would we do with these giant hospitals and bottles of blue pills if people were actually healthy and free of disease?And the Band Played On reads like great fiction. It is a tremendous learning experience - about the gay culture of San Francisco in the 70's; about how the medical establishment works; and about how greed and hubris get in the way of progress - and real solutions. This is important to consider as we ask the government to take on an ever-increasing load of responsibilities for our care as individuals. Do we really want a government hack in Washington to decide our fate? Will he/she decide in your best interest or in his/her own? After reading this book; I think I know the answer.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. THE book to read about the early history of the AIDS epidemicBy TokiraI read this originally right after it was first published; and regretfully gave away my copy. This 20th Anniversary publication; in paperback; is of course easier to hold; but I really missed the photos from the original. It is THE book to read about the beginning of the AIDS epidemic; and reading it again was especially poignant knowing the the author had subsequently joined the ranks of whom he had written so eloquently.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. I must have been part of the band.By JakiI remember hearing of a "homosexual disease" in early summer 1981; which was surprisingly early; especially for an Ohioan. But then not much more; and nothing meaningful for a long time. It's disturbing to find out how profoundly and painfully inadequate our response was to HIV/AIDS. And it feels as if it could happen again. Remember Zika? Drug-resistant bacteria? Lack of concern for public health makes us a type of third world nation. Read this book. It could happen again sooner than you think.
