Andrew Carnegie was perhaps the most generous man in the world except he didn't pay his employees a living wage. He thought it would impede their evolution into better men. He actually set up a pension for valued employees who could no longer work, but needed money, which he wouldn't have had to do if it weren't for his cheapness. Okay...

Born a very poor boy in Scotland, Andrew came to the U.S. and grabbed opportunity where he saw it. Super smart and willing to work, he parlayed his intelligence into billions of dollars. This is a good biography of Carnegie and his time--the other robber barons and how they operated. An idealist, Carnegie gave most of his fortune to good causes--including the New York Public Library, which has improved citizens ever since.

David Nasaw's book provides an in-depth portrait of Andrew Carnegie. He fully covers the paradoxical nature of the man - from his huge ego to his incredible and unprecedented philanthropy to his ruthlessness as a businessman, fierce loyalties to friends, and, in many cases, his surprising inability to see reality.
He was dedicated to making money strictly for the purpose of giving it all away to causes which would increase quality of life. His intention was to have no money left upon his death. Nasaw details the disconnect between his passionate philanthropy and his total lack of understanding of the needs of his workers.
It's a fascinating 800-page book with a great deal of detail - in some cases some of the brief anecdotes did not seem to advance the story but were interesting nonetheless.

I liked it. Learned a lot not only about Andrew but about te whole indusrial age and the politics of the time as well. I would not say the way Andrew acquired his welath eas wholly ethical, but these were different times. I would have done the same. He is an example for everyone in a lot of ways. He enjoyed life and knew what was important in life (family, friends, free time, giving). The billionaires of today can most definitely take a note. The premise of his "Gospel of Wealth" is one that has a lot of implications for this age. He lived a long full life, and dedicated most of his later years in the persuit of peace, not losing faith even after July 1914. Optimism he had enough, and we can all learn a lot from his positive outlook on life. He was the most generous man when it came to family and friends and took the greatest delight in lenghty conversation and time spend with them. Andrew Carnegie; a good businessman, a better capitalist, a great peace activist, and the best friend

DRY.

Here is a biography that is done right, unlike others that disappointed me. It is long but does not repeat itself much, does not try to fill in the blanks with speculation, does not jump back and forth between periods, is neither a hatchet job nor a hagiography.

So what does it have to say about Andrew Carnegie, another person with a famous name but few details about him are well known? On the plus side, he was hardworking, sociable, and intelligent, and he was not so arrogant that he was unaware that his fortune came as a result of his being in the right place at the right time as much as anything he had done. One the minus side, he was arrogant enough to fool himself into thinking he was more worldly than he really was and deluded himself into thinking he had the ear of major politicians and that they took him more seriously than they really did. Despite his generosity with the money he made in business, he did not treat his employees well and often worked to break unions and even hire strikebreakers, as well as often being unreasonable with his management.

Carnegie may have had good intentions, but he could hardly be remembered as saintly, as none other than Teddy Roosevelt acknowledged out of Carnegie's earshot.

This is the second biography by David Nasaw I have read. you can see the research that goes into his work.

Andrew Carnegie turned out to be a different man than I that he was. A very likeable man who taught me several things. A couple of things I learned was about being philanthropic at the beginning of your career. Don't wait until you have riches; then, try to give them all away before you die. Another lesson was how to get people to like, or at least maintain a relationship with you and listen to you. Although that did not always work, people that did not like always him, still came back and kept their relationship alive. I believe one of the big reasons was his honesty and he was not trying to be someone he did not want to be.

Andrew's life turned out to be quite dull especially after he retired; he made his money early in life, retired, and spent the rest of his life trying to give away his fortune and establish international peace. There were repetitive stories of him vacationing around the world especially in Scotland and of him hobnobbing with presidents and government officials. He was hypocritical stating that people shouldn't spend extravagantly when he vacationed around the world multiple times and purchased expensive property. He neglected his family with his many projects. He was very arrogant and naive, not understanding that US presidents would be irritated at being told what to do by him and that leaders are bound by the will of the people they lead.

That said, Andrew had extraordinary capabilities and good characteristics. It is impressive that he and his family came to America impoverished and he rose to become one of the richest men in the world. He made use of his opportunities and he quickly learned that capital and management are more lucrative than labor. He crushed the unions and continually economized his business expenses allowing him to survive economic crashes and buy out struggling rivals. It is incredible that he donated most of his fortune to charity such as libraries and Hero funds. He didn't feel racial superiority over Asians and he donated to African-American causes. He understood that a war between European nations would be disastrous and maltreatment of the losers would lead to another major war. He predicted that Britain would eventually have to give up its colonies as well as the formation of the European Union and the United Nations.

This is a difficult read. I started it on two separate occasions and the finally, on the third try, muscled my way through. It is an exhaustive work. I thought it would read much like the Rockefeller bio by Ron Chernow. But no such luck.the book provides insight into a man who built a massive fortune. But even at 800 pages I am left with only a modicum of knowledge on what made this man tick. Admittedly, that may be too much to ask for a bio completed nearly a century after his death. In short: it is an awfully dry bio. Nevertheless, I am more knowledgeable about Carnegie and the period he lived by finally completing this tome.

Well-done, deeply researched, excellent writing... This was a unique biography and I've read many. The author seemed to not like his subject and by the end of the book, I think the author was quite tired of his subject. At times very judgmental. Unnecessary so I think. The end of the book came too abruptly with absolutely no summary. I think the author was just done. Carnegie deserved better I think. I think the editor could have done better as well. Glad I read this but felt like this could have done much better.

This was a highly researched book. There are a lot of direct quotes from Carnegie's correspondence. It is an 800 page book with chapters focusing on a year or two at a time. It is primarily about his business and philanthropist actions. There is a little bit on his courtship with Louise, but very little focus on the family although his friends and business partners are mentioned a lot. Very good focus on life at the time and how things (and himself) changed from 1860s to 1915. He was quite an individual. I alternately wanted to applaud or shake him to pieces. He was a cut-throat business man who enforced abhorring working conditions and justified his means by then giving away his money because only he could be trusted to do it wisely. Yep, just want to shake some sense into the guy. But his library fund is legendary. I had no idea he did church organs too. Or all his other various efforts like the hero fund. I didn't have any idea he was peace activist. You can't help feel so sorry for him when he goes into a depression after WWI when he had been trying to keep something like that from happening for many years previous. It is a very long book. I could have been good with 300 pages, but I was determined to finish it. I was interested in him from watching Men Who Built America on the History Channel, but it had a lot of misrepresented information although the author does appear in the show. The real story is always more complex.

An excellent, detailed bio of a complex man.
The story of how Carnegie built his wealth is so interesting.
The book also shows a kind man in need of constant praise.
I think this book would have benefited from cutting out some of the minutiae and repetition.
Good read if you have the time and interest.

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. and he was a true conundrum; filthy rich, yet he thought it was his duty to give away as much as he could before he died to philanthropic causes. and, even though he did give away millions to those less fortunate, he had a general disdain for the poor, even those who wored in his steel mills!
This is a well written book! I came away with mixed feelings about Carnegie; I liked him but I also was disgusted by him.