A New York Times bestseller! “Beautifully crafted and fun to read.” —Louis Galambos, The Wall Street Journal “Nasaw’s research is extraordinary.” —San Francisco Chronicle “Make no mistake: David Nasaw has produced the most thorough, accurate and authoritative biography of Carnegie to date.” —Salon.com The definitive account of the life of Andrew Carnegie Celebrated historian David Nasaw, whom The New York Times Book Review has called "a meticulous researcher and a cool analyst," brings new life to the story of one of America's most famous and successful businessmen and philanthropists—in what will prove to be the biography of the season. Born of modest origins in Scotland in 1835, 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 With a trove of new material—unpublished chapters of Carnegie's Autobiography; personal letters between Carnegie and his future wife, Louise, and other family members; his prenuptial agreement;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.

More than 200 rare photographs and 30 removable facsimiles of collectible memorabilia Carnegie Hall Treasures is the story of the world's most famous musical institution. Ten thematic chapters—from vocalists, conductors, and composers to rock and folk performers—offer a wealth of visuals of the jazz, world, classical, and popular musicians who've graced the Carnegie Hall stages, accompanied by informative, entertaining anecdotes by Pulitzer Prize–winning music writer Tim Page and Carnegie Hall.

A biography of Scotsman Andrew Carnegie that discusses how his actions, as founder of Carnegie Steel, contributed to the reorganization of the pattern of industrial activity.

One of the major figures in American history, Andrew Carnegie was a ruthless businessman who made his fortune in the steel industry and ultimately gave most of it away. He used his wealth to ascend the world's political stage, influencing the presidencies of Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt. In retirement, Carnegie became an avid promoter of world peace, only to be crushed emotionally by World War I. In this compelling biography, Peter Krass reconstructs the complicated life of this titan who came to power in America's Gilded Age. He transports the reader to Carnegie's Pittsburgh, where hundreds of smoking furnaces belched smoke into the sky and the air was filled with acrid fumes . . . and mill workers worked seven-day weeks while Carnegie spent months traveling across Europe. Carnegie explores the contradictions in the life of the man who rose from lowly bobbin boy to build the largest and most profitable steel company in the world. Krass examines how Carnegie became one of the greatest philanthropists ever known-and earned a notorious reputation that history has yet to fully reconcile with his remarkable accomplishments.

Charts the life of Andrew Carnegie, from Dunfermline bobbin boy to Steel King of America. Carnegie was born in Dunfermline in 1835, but poverty forced the Carnegies to immigrate to Pittsburgh. He worked his way up, and by 1900 Carnegie Steel produced more steel than Great Britain. He was one of the first to call for a 'league of nations'.

Before the 99% occupied Wall Street... Before the concept of social justice had impinged on the social conscience... Before the social safety net had even been conceived... By the turn of the 20th Century, the era of the robber barons, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) had already accumulated a staggeringly large fortune; he was one of the wealthiest people on the globe. He guaranteed his position as one of the wealthiest men ever when he sold his steel business to create the United States Steel Corporation. Following that sale, he spent his last 18 years, he gave away nearly 90% of his fortune to charities, foundations, and universities. His charitable efforts actually started far earlier. At the age of 33, he wrote a memo to himself, noting ..".The amassing of wealth is one of the worse species of idolatry. No idol more debasing than the worship of money." In 1881, he gave a library to his hometown of Dunfermline, Scotland. In 1889, he spelled out his belief that the rich should use their wealth to help enrich society, in an article called "The Gospel of Wealth" this book. Carnegie writes that the best way of dealing with wealth inequality is for the wealthy to redistribute their surplus means in a responsible and thoughtful manner, arguing that surplus wealth produces the greatest net benefit to society when it is administered carefully by the wealthy. He also argues against extravagance, irresponsible spending, or self-indulgence, instead promoting the administration of capital during one's lifetime toward the cause of reducing the stratification between the rich and poor. Though written more than a century ago, Carnegie's words still ring true today, urging a better, more equitable world through greater social consciousness.

CHAPTER I PARENTS AND CHILDHOOD CHAPTER II DUNFERMLINE AND AMERICA CHAPTER III PITTSBURGH AND WORK CHAPTER IV COLONEL ANDERSON AND BOOKS CHAPTER V THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE CHAPTER VI RAILROAD SERVICE CHAPTER VII SUPERINTENDENT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CHAPTER VIII CIVIL WAR PERIOD CHAPTER IX BRIDGE-BUILDING CHAPTER X THE IRON WORKS CHAPTER XI NEW YORK AS HEADQUARTERS CHAPTER XII BUSINESS NEGOTIATIONS CHAPTER XIII THE AGE OF STEEL CHAPTER XIV PARTNERS, BOOKS, AND TRAVEL CHAPTER XV COACHING TRIP AND MARRIAGE CHAPTER XVI MILLS AND THE MEN CHAPTER XVII THE HOMESTEAD STRIKE CHAPTER XVIII PROBLEMS OF LABOR CHAPTER XIX THE "GOSPEL OF WEALTH" CHAPTER XX EDUCATIONAL AND PENSION FUNDS CHAPTER XXI THE PEACE PALACE AND PITTENCRIEFF CHAPTER XXII MATHEW ARNOLD AND OTHERS CHAPTER XXIII BRITISH POLITICAL LEADERS CHAPTER XXIV GLADSTONE AND MORLEY CHAPTER XXV HERBERT SPENCER AND HIS DISCIPLE CHAPTER XXVI BLAINE AND HARRISON CHAPTER XXVII WASHINGTON DIPLOMACY CHAPTER XXVIII HAY AND McKINLEY CHAPTER XXIX MEETING THE GERMAN EMPEROR