Carnegie biography book

EPUB no images, older E-readers. Plain Text UTF Download HTML zip. There may be more files related to this item. Carnegie, Andrew, Van Dyke, John C. Industrialists -- United States -- Biography. Philanthropists -- United States -- Biography. On completion of the book there remain for me some questions. What was it that induced Carnegie while still young to give away his riches?

We are referred to his ardent support of Herbert Spencer, but is that the whole explanation? I think he had an inner need to be looked up to, to be exalted and to be praised. What is the cause of this? He married in at the age of 52 and only after her death. What is the explanation for the hold she had on him? The audiobook is narrated by Grover Gardner.

I liked it a lot, so four stars. It is easy to follow and clear. He neither dramatizes nor uses separate intonations for family members or friends. Andrew Carnegie Is not your normal person. We are all aware of his philanthropy but here is the man behind the deeds. It takes a while to read this book, and you are sure to get annoyed, but I think it is worth reading.

To be continued. Mikey B. I consumed this page biography at home and while traveling in trains and planes. It was a long slog to consume — but the main reason I managed to complete it is the wonderful and lucid writing of the author — David Nasaw. Throughout we are given a lively picture of the era and the personalities — from Andrew Carnegie, his mother, wife and daughter, his several business partners such as Henry Clay Frick , and to the Presidents he sought to influence.

We follow Andrew Carnegie from a poor family that emigrated from Scotland to the U. Pittsburgh — and how he became a rich businessman — very rich. Overall I found him to be a quirky fellow. But he was no dour Scotsman — he was very talkative on a great range of subjects and was forever optimistic. He formed lasting friendships easily, mostly with men.

He had his mother live with him until she died in , when he was 50 years old. Up to that time he had been pursuing, on and off, Louise Whitfield for several years. They finally married in , she was 30 and he was Their first and only child Margaret was born in Part of what I am trying to point out is that the guy, who was a millionaire several times over and would be quite ruthless in his business dealings — did not want to unsettle the relationship he had with his mother, by marrying the woman he loved.

Carnegie always seemed to be flying at a very high altitude above his factories - especially his iron and steel workers. He could not see the drudgery of their lives. He himself was very careful to not overwork himself — and was perpetually on vacations, whether in Europe or in the U. Carnegie was a traveling phenomenon - and crossed the Atlantic several times — and did one world tour.

He was constantly advising his business associates of the importance of time off — and often would take them on his jaunts all expenses paid for. But not his factory workers, who he kept on a 12 hour day, seven days a week. At one point the unions succeeded in getting an 8 hour day. Carnegie then proceeded to crush the unions — and it was back to lower salaries and a 12 hour day.

Carnegie was no friend of the worker — but he was totally oblivious to this — thinking that he was beloved by them because he gave them employment. Possibly he felt his donations, the building of libraries and philanthropies, made up for this. Many buildings, in Pittsburgh and New York, bare his name. The author does not explore the idea that Carnegie sought to immortalize himself through these grandiose structures.

Many libraries in the U. Interestingly he also believed that wealth should not be inherited — that it should be given away or otherwise to be taxed by the government. Morgan bought off his iron and steel companies Andrew Carnegie became a tireless crusader for world peace. This is commendable. But like many business people who become involved in politics he overestimated his influence; perhaps not realizing that politicians would not behave like his salaried business partners.

Carnegie did not realize that he was being scorned and ridiculed behind his back. Mark Twain, a friend of Carnegie, also was given to caustic remarks. The author gives a wide canvas — but as mentioned, the length is excessive. Nasaw is the Arthur M. Among his most widely-read books are biographies of Joseph P. Kennedy which I read and reviewed last year and William Randolph Hearst.

The ideal biography requires several crucial ingredients. Among them are an intriguing biographical subject, a skilled writer, a robust supply of primary source material and an author capable of diligent and determined research. This scholarly and often gripping biography of Andrew Carnegie provides each of these items in abundance. In these pages of text, Nasaw paints an extraordinarily balanced and remarkably robust portrait of Carnegie…displaying his determination, financial acumen, personal passions, charitable predilections and his numerous faults and contradictions.

There is no consensus, however, as to whether Nasaw's biography surpassed Joseph Frazier Wall's classic as the definitive biography of Carnegie; at some point I will have to read the latter and decide for myself! But for all its merit, this biography is not perfect. Many readers will find the book too lengthy and inconsistently engaging.

In addition, the considerable focus on his non-business efforts most notably his retirement-era crusade for world peace feels overdone. Readers seeking swift and effortless tales of capitalist adventure will find the book too detailed and occasionally tedious. But for anyone who enjoys good writing underpinned by a fascinating subject and exceptional research…this book is likely to prove extraordinary.

Carl Rollyson. Author books followers. Why did Andrew Carnegie give away all of his money? This is the question that Carnegie's biographers have to confront. David Nasaw's authoritative new biography goes a long way toward answering the question, even if he cannot—perhaps no biographer can—ultimately fathom Carnegie's complex motives and temperament.

Nasaw deftly dismisses the conventional explanations. Carnegie did not feel guilty about accumulating a vast fortune. He did not feel he had earned his wealth immorally, let alone illegally. Morgan's claim that Carnegie became the richest man in the world when he sold his steel corporation to Morgan did not embarrass Carnegie a bit.

Carnegie did not build his famous public libraries or establish his endowments for peace and social welfare as public relations ploys. Long before he became a controversial public figure, during a period when he was regarded as a pro-union supporter of the workingman and a rebuke to the robber barons of the Gilded Age, he had resolved to divest himself of his capital.

Nasaw's probes Carnegie's personality and philosophy — which Carnegie wrote up as "The Gospel of Wealth" — to describe an individual who believed he owed his good fortune to his community, a key term in the Carnegian lexicon. Unlike many self-made men Carnegie was the son of a feckless Scottish weaver , he did not claim he had succeeded through hard work and genius.

Carnegie scoffed at businessmen who put in and hour days. Even at the height of his involvement in business, Carnegie rarely spent a full day in his office. He disliked the go-getter mentality and counseled his fellow Americans to make opportunities for leisure. Carnegie loved to travel, read, attend the theater, and generally absorb culture, which he regarded not as a frill but as a necessity.

Carnegie headed for the country's cultural capital, New York City, as soon as he could break away from commitments in Pittsburgh, where he had begun his rise as a messenger boy and telegraph operator before graduating to Pennsylvania railroad executive positions. Pittsburgh had set him up to sell bonds and form partnerships in the iron and steel industries based on insider trading not yet designated a crime or even considered immoral.

What Mr. Nasaw dubs "crony capitalism" formed the basis of Carnegie's success. But the ebullient Carnegie — one associate called him the happiest man he had ever met — had literary aspirations and quoted Shakespeare liberally. He befriended influential figures like Matthew Arnold and William Gladstone, not to mention the man who became his philosophical mentor, Herbert Spencer.

Indeed, Spencer and Shakespeare went hand in hand for Carnegie to the point that he could close a deal quoting either writer. Herbert Spencer, Mr. Nasaw believes, is the key to Carnegie's decision to give away his money. Spencer believed in evolutionary progress and that the "apogee of human achievement was industrial society," Mr. Nasaw writes.

They arose out of the community that fostered their efforts. In Carnegie's view, Spencer was not merely presenting ideas. Nasaw's biography. Carnegie is shown walking toward us, open to whatever experience has to teach him. Naturally, then, he argued that he should give back what the world had, in effect, bestowed upon him. So certain was Carnegie that great wealth must be redistributed that he even argued against the notion of inheritance for children of the wealthy.

Let them, as well, meet the world head-on. With so much empathy for his community, then, how could Carnegie have consorted with Henry Clay Frick, a notorious and brutal strikebreaker? Unions, Carnegie concluded, did not understand that the Spencerian world, had periods of downs as well as ups—as Mr. Nasaw's illustrates in his redaction of the philosopher: "It seems hard than an unskillfulness which with all his efforts he cannot overcome, should entail hunger upon the artisan," Herbert Spencer had written, almost as if he were advising Carnegie not to give in to the demands of employees.

It seems hard that widows and orphans should be left to struggle for life or death. Nevertheless, when regarded not separately, but in connection with the interests of universal humanity, these harsh fatalities are seen to be full of the highest beneficence. Nasaw : "While the law may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it insures the survival of the fittest in every department.

But a mystery remains in the heart of Andrew Carnegie's heart. When he published "Triumphant Democracy," which essentially ignored the terrible suffering that Spencer's version of evolutionary progress entailed, Spencer himself wrote Carnegie: "Great as may be hereafter the advantages of enormous progress America makes, I hold that the existing generations of Americans, and those to come for a long time hence, are and will be essentially sacrificed.

Nasaw does not comment, except to say, "What mattered most was that he be taken seriously as a thinker and author. Nasaw does not know what Carnegie thought of Spencer's rebuke. Instead of just shilling for capitalism, shouldn't Carnegie have explored its devastating consequences as well? Failure to do so deprived Carnegie of the very status of literary figure and thinker he craved.

Didn't Carnegie understand as much? And shouldn't Mr. Nasaw probe this fatal flaw? Instead, he writes that Carnegie "wore his many hats well. But biography ought to reflect perspectives not available to the subject. Even where evidence is lacking, some rather sharp questions have to be asked of a subject who did so much good while refusing to acknowledge that it arose out of so much questionable philosophy.

Joseph Sciuto. Author 12 books followers. Back in the late 's while attending John Jay college of Criminal Justice I would have dinner every Friday night at this great little restaurant on 57th street and Park Ave. I always ordered the London Broil, which was simply the best, a couple of beers back in in was legal to drink at eighteen, not that it would have stopped me either way and after leaving a great tip, 3 dollars on a 7 dollar bill, I would walk across the street and look at the coming events at "Carnegie Hall," not that I could afford to go to any event but I did love looking and walking around this magnificant building.

After moving to California in the early eighties, I always remembered fondly the little restaurant with the wonderful London Broil So much so that I brought my lovely wife there a few times while visiting New York, but never did I think of going across the street to "Carnegie Hall. Carnegie and his Steel company were mentioned in the book.

It was after reading Mr. McCullough's book that I decided to pick up the highly praised, extremely large biography named "Andrew Carnegie" by David Nasaw. To say that Mr. Carnegie was different, would be an understatement. At one point in his life he was considered the "richest man" in the world The Steel business and a few shady deals paid really well.

Carnegie was generous would be a large exaggeration. At the time of his death, he would have given away what would amount to the fortunes of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezo's combined. And who are those that benefitted from his largess: Libraries, he built over two thousand across the United States and the world And the list just keeps going on and on.

Carnegie's goal in life, after accumulating a massive fortune, was to give it all away before he died, and for the most part he did. He was far from a perfect man. In fact, the men that worked in his Steel Mills might not be very kind in their appraisal of the man. Yet, his imprint on American and world cultures, his pursuit of world peace, and his relationships with Presidents of the United States makes him one of the most influential, if not controversial figures, of the last years.

Joseph Conrad wrote, "That we go through life with eyes half closed," and in the case of Andrew Carnegie I passed through six decades with eyes fully closed because I have passed many of his cultural and scientific Institution that he had built and didn't take notice, which is amazing because they're everywhere. I rarely read anything that's not about early 19th Century, but, on a whim, I bought this recent biography about Andrew Carnegie;philanthropist, steel king and robber baron.

Carnegie was the proto-typical "poor boy made good" and was one of the richest men in the world. This is a well written book! I came away with mixed feelings about Carnegie; I liked him but I also was disgusted by him. Henrik Haapala. He wanted to read widely because that was what a man and a citizen did, whether artisan or mechanic, clerk or merchant, Scottish or American.

Book learning was a means toward, and a sign of, moral distinction. And you had to have money to buy books. He was the most consistently happy man I ever knew. After his steel mills were making enormous amounts of money he simply distanced himself and travelled the world taking friends and family with him. He invested with his partners and mentor when he had an edge in ways that are by completely legit today.

He followed closely with his mentor. He ingratiated himself with supervisors, learned as much about the industry as possible, and did more than was expected if him. Linen was the main industry of Dumfermline, Scotland. His father was a handloom weaver who was often out of work. So they decided to move to western Pennsylvania where relatives had emigrated years before in hopes of a better life.

Andrew was thirteen years of age when his family settled in Cresson, PA, near Pittsburgh. He was startled by the bustling cities activity and almost instantly saw the great potential of his new home. With a father who still failed to get work, Andrew looked for his own job. He landed one in a factory. He soon afterwards found a better job. An interpreter would translate the Morse code into text on sheets of paper.

A messenger would then deliver this to the intended recipient. He applied for and received a messenger job at a busy office. He memorized streets and people so he became very quick at delivering these messages.

Carnegie biography book

A point not to overlook was his affable personality. He was quite friendly and gregarious. On his deliveries he met a lot of people. But his intellect helped launch him into a promotion as the telegraphic operator, interpreting Morse coded messages. This experience landed him a job as a telegraphic operator and assistant to Thomas Scott, one of the powerful Pennsylvania Railroad heads.

He became a friend and confident of Thomas Scott. Scott knew the best publicly held companies and always offered Andrew a piece of the pie. Andrew received tremendous dividend payments from these investments. He also earned a promotion to superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad. In this position, he learned all about the Rail Road. After about three years he left the Rail Road and focused on buying companies that supported the Rail Road.

So he bought Oil, Coal, and Iron businesses. He understood that steel was about to become a major U. So he adroitly turned his energies to the Steel industry. Correspondingly, these skilled workmen got paid what they wanted. Andrew heard of a new way which would strip this power from these skilled workmen. So he traveled to England where they were already using a process called the Bessemer process.

This process involved containers which blew air through pig iron which expelled the impurities that the iron contained. Andrew learned that he could keep tract of his businesses by accurate accounting. This led him into a life of semi retirement at the age of He moved to New York and followed his company from accounting reports while letting his brother and others manage the company.

While in New York he sought the company of the wealthy and educated. It seems that he had to prove himself in intellectual circles. He often debated his companions on various issues but always with humor and an agreeable attitude. He also pursued a career in the literary field writing a few books and numerous articles for magazines.

He uncharacteristically wrote articles in support of unions. But while unions were fighting for eight hour days his workers were forced to work 12 hour days. He not only wanted sophisticated friendships with these aristocrats but also knew these people could provide profitable business. He often said he was lucky. In some ways he was right. But he was hard working and always fighting for the cheapest way to produce steel.

He benefited from the protective tariffs of the 19th Century which kept foreign steel out of America. He also benefited from the frenzy to use steel to produce railroad tracks which the U. This demand for steel by the U. As he aged he spent his living days trying to disperse his wealth throughout society. Two of his main philanthropic projects were the building of numerous libraries throughout the world and providing needed organs to many churches.

He also set up and funded the Carnegie Institute for Science as well as museums. His one huge goal however was to establish World peace. All though they gave him an ear they never took him seriously. Andrew Carnegie. David Nasaw. A New York Times bestseller! Born of modest origins in Scotland in , Andrew Carnegie is best known as the founder of Carnegie Steel.

His rags to riches story has never been told as dramatically and vividly as in Nasaw's new biography. Carnegie, the son of an impoverished linen weaver, moved to Pittsburgh at the age of thirteen. The embodiment of the American dream, he pulled himself up from bobbin boy in a cotton factory to become the richest man in the world. He spent the rest of his life giving away the fortune he had accumulated and crusading for international peace.

For all that he accomplished and came to represent to the American public—a wildly successful businessman and capitalist, a self-educated writer, peace activist, philanthropist, man of letters, lover of culture, and unabashed enthusiast for American democracy and capitalism—Carnegie has remained, to this day, an enigma. Nasaw explains how Carnegie made his early fortune and what prompted him to give it all away, how he was drawn into the campaign first against American involvement in the Spanish-American War and then for international peace, and how he used his friendships with presidents and prime ministers to try to pull the world back from the brink of disaster.

With a trove of new material—unpublished chapters of Carnegie's Autobiography; personal letters between Carnegie and his future wife, Louise, and other family members; his prenuptial agreement; diaries of family and close friends; his applications for citizenship; his extensive correspondence with Henry Clay Frick; and dozens of private letters to and from presidents Grant, Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, and British prime ministers Gladstone and Balfour, as well as friends Herbert Spencer, Matthew Arnold, and Mark Twain—Nasaw brilliantly plumbs the core of this fascinating and complex man, deftly placing his life in cultural and political context as only a master storyteller can.