Reddit mentions of Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City

I highly recommend reading Fordlandia: http://www.amazon.com/Fordlandia-Henry-Fords-Forgotten-Jungle/dp/0312429622/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396471818&sr=1-1&keywords=fordlandia

Really good historical analysis that answers exactly the question you're asking. Effectively, Ford paid higher than average wages but also demanded incredible productivity and prescribed a particular lifestyle for his workers in exchange for the pay. There was also very little job security and his factories employed various people whose job it was to keep the employees in line - whatever that took. All of this was taken to the extreme in Fordlandia and it all sort of fell apart - the employees really didn't care what Ford thought they should spend their money on or how they should live their lives.

There's a pretty good book about it: https://www.amazon.com/Fordlandia-Henry-Fords-Forgotten-Jungle/dp/0312429622 I definitely agree this could be an episode.

I haven't seen anyone else link (may have misssed) but the book is well worth the read

Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle

http://www.amazon.com/Fordlandia-Henry-Fords-Forgotten-Jungle/dp/0312429622

'Fordlandia' is a really interesting book about Ford's failed rubber plantation in South America but it also talks about his anti-Semetism and anti-unionism.

http://www.amazon.com/Fordlandia-Henry-Fords-Forgotten-Jungle/dp/0312429622/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346235887&sr=8-1&keywords=fordlandia

The book on Fordlandia is brilliant and well worth reading. Its an amazing experiment even if it did fail.

http://www.amazon.com/Fordlandia-Henry-Fords-Forgotten-Jungle/dp/0312429622

I read a book several years ago about Fordlandia, and it was a pretty awesome read. Trying to create an American town in the middle of the Amazon - so bizarre and obviously destined to fail (for a multitude of reasons).

Henry Ford had more than a few odd beliefs. Check out Fordlandia