A surprising and sweeping history that reveals the fur trade to be the driving force behind conquest; colonization; and revolution in early AmericaCombining the epic saga of Hampton Sides's Blood and Thunder with the natural history of Mark Kurlansky's Cod; popular historian Alan Axelrod reveals the astonishingly vital role a small animal―the beaver―played in the creation of our nation. The author masterfully relays a story often neglected by conventional histories: how lust for fur trade riches moved monarchs and men to launch expeditions of discovery; finance massive corporate enterprises; and wage war. Deftly weaving cultural and military narratives; the author chronicles how Spanish; Dutch; French; English; and Native American tribes created and betrayed alliances based on trapping and trade disputes; producing a surprisingly complex series of loyalties that endured throughout the Revolution and beyond.
#30850 in Books Greg Grandin 2010-04-27 2010-04-27Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 .33 x .83 x 5.49l; .94 #File Name: 0312429622432 pagesFordlandia The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford s Forgotten Jungle City
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Lost tale of Henry ford's ambition and obstinance being overwhelmed by realityBy nickHenry ford; a self- made industrialist changed the world as much as his good friend Thomas Edison and anyone else in the early twentieth century. He spent the later part of his life trying to reshape his rural America back to a more pastoral era that his creation - an inexpensive car - did so much to destroy. In Brasil he tried to re-create his idolized version of small town farming community by creating a rubber plantation in the ; in part to source this important automobile component through the ford family.The author is quick to discount the manner in which ford "blindly" set up the plantation; and the book would be stronger with more external verification of his claims. I do not doubt they are in part correct - just that they could be presented more convincingly.I enjoyed the book very much. Having been raised in Michigan; I already knew most of the ford history; and still think a visit to greenfield village is one of the highlights of American cultural history. Its lesson on how long it took manufacturers to re- design the workplace for electricity instead of steam has played out again in my lifetime as first personal computers and then the Internet have had similarly profound impact on how we work.This book added to that understanding. By pushing agriculture into the forest in an effort to better people's lives - as well as make money - ford was a pioneer in outsourcing. The lesson this failure taught was that trying to control the whole process just because you control most of it is often not as efficient as letting others do what they may be able do better than you. Ford himself learned this lesson can as he later bought rubber from s.e. Asia after the war. I suspect in fact he had several irons the fire with regards to sourcing.Towards the end of the book; we see in contrast that ford's failed idea later took root as some of the was ploughed over to plant his beloved soybean. Soy grown there that is now being used as he had foreseen in manufacturing. A good idea; germinating at the wrong time; may not bloom - but it is still a good idea. Henry ford was a complicated guy; and this book serves to shed light on only some part his life. But it does a good job telling a very interesting; somewhat prophetic story.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Filled with Ford vision leaving Henry with a black eyeBy RSHFordlandia provides a view of Henry Ford that reveals him to be an all too human combination of innovation; ignorance and arrogance. While not surprising in the sense that Henry Ford was; after all; just a man out to make a buck and impose his personality on everything; the book makes it quite clear Ford was a one trick pony. (His one true innovation was to perceive the same 'interchangeable parts' model used successfully for gun manufacture would work just as well for automobiles and could further be extended to interchangeable and expendable people.) Outside his factory and off the assembly line; Ford manufactured a non stop string of failures with the Fordlandia fiasco simply being one of many. Perhaps the real lesson of Fordlandia is how often business moguls are actually extremely limited in their vision. That myopia may make them millionaires but it too often impairs them from seeing the world and the people in it as anything more than machinery to generate money and facilitate or impede illusions.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Interesting Subject but Looking for MoreBy HMGIt's ok. The writing style is a little too dry and academic. I wish the balance between Ford Motor Co. history and Forlanda were weighted for more stories about the village and inhabitants. This topic will make a great book or movie someday.
