The title Fordlandiais not the catchiest title, but it is an appropriate title because it accurately reflects what this book is about. Fordlandia is the name given to a large parcel of land in Brazil purchased by Henry Ford for the purpose of growing rubber trees with the hope of using that rubber in his expanding automotive empire. It is also a story about what happens when Henry Ford tries to transplant a midwestern town in the middle of the Amazon.
This book is a memoir written by the brother of the author of Running With Scissors, Augusten Burroughs. Unlike most people who have read Look me in the eye, I have not read Augusten’s book, though I probably will read it now. I give a lot of credit to people who see one author have a lot of success with a book and then decide that they have something to add and can do just as good a job. Frank McCourt’s brother wrote his own memoir after Angela’a Ashesbecame a best seller. I haven’t read it, but the book has done well. Some of the soldiers covered in Mark Bowden’s Blackhawk Down wrote their own book. One of the boat captains in the story A Perfect Stormhas written a couple of successful books. A lot of good books don’t make it because they can’t find an audience. So there’s nothing wrong with riding the coattails of another book.
The story told in the book Horse Soldiers is a modern day western. Not only do we have American special force soldiers riding into battle atop horses alongside Afghan fighters, the story has many of the same plot devices, including a siege at a wood and mud fort. The one difference is that this story is true and it took place not long after the hijackings of September 11, 2001.
The story of the accident and the trip down the mountain is interspersed with the story of young Norman growing up. The author tells the two stories in alternating chapters. Neither story is strong enough to stand alone. Together, though, the two stories complement each other in a way that makes for interesting reading.
This book is short in pages and even shorter in insight. There’s nothing new or important in this book. There is no secret to success. Success is a combination of knowledge, effort, and luck. Luck, as in opportunity, is every bit as important as knowlege and effort.
Like most people, my introduction to the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty is from film, specifically the one with Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins (which by the way I have added to my Blockbuster que). I vaguely remember seeing the one with Marlon Brando. The Mel Gibson film is a fair re-enactment that gives equal treatment to both sides of the story. One version is that Bligh was a tyrant who had it coming and that Fletcher Christian had simply had enough. The other version is that Fletcher had overreacted and the mutiny was a spur of the moment decision made under the influence of alcohol. The truth lies somewhere in between.