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Andrew Carnegie | 
 enlarge | Author: David Nasaw
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $20.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 121135
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 896
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 2
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.7672092
ASIN: B0015VT2IY
Publication Date: October 30, 2007
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Product Description
In this magnificent biography, celebrated historian David Nasaw brings to life the fascinating rags- to-riches story of one of our most iconic business legendsAndrew Carnegie, Americas first modern titan. From his first job as a bobbin boy at age thirteen to his status as the richest man in the world upon retirement, Carnegie was the embodiment of the American dream and the prototype of todays billionaire. Drawing on a trove of new material, Nasaw brilliantly plumbs the core of this fascinating and complex man, at last fixing him in his rightful place as one of the most compelling, elusive, and multifaceted personalities of the twentieth century.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 Long and Boring October 11, 2008
Andrew Carnegie was both the Bill Gates and Thomas Friedman of the Gilded Age. An industrial visionary and brilliant business practitioner with a ruthless drive to be the best and most efficient Andrew Carnegie would semi-retire in middle age, and in his later years focus on giving away his vast fortune to remedy what he believed were the most perplexing problems of his age. But Mr. Carnegie was also the Gilded Age's prophet and messiah, borrowing Herbert Spencer's philosophy to hail America's Gilded Age as progressive and splendid, and to justify the worst abuses of the age as necessary and right.
In his preface the historian David Nasaw notes that much of what has been written about Carnegie has been overly sympathetic, or -- in the case of Mr. Carnegie's autobiography -- just plain self-interested. So we could happily expect a more balanced and nuanced view of the great man, or at least some juicy gossip. Unfortunately, Mr. Nasaw's book is yet another overly sympathetic portrait, and a sedated and boring one at that.
Here is a man who did not marry until he was fifty, and who did not give his young bride (almost thirty years his junior) a child until she desperately begged for one -- and so how could Mr. Nasaw not speculate once that Carnegie was possibly a closet homosexual? His fanatical devotion to his mother and his narcissm -- he wanted to be respected as a writer and a thinker, and often paid for his writings to be published -- are hints as well.
What's most annoying about the book is Mr. Nasaw's presumptive tone. He tells us that Mr. Carnegie's greatest mission before he died was to give back to his community all the wealth he had accumulated. How could anyone know what really went on Carnegie's mind, and who would dare to presume Carnegie's priorities? Throughout the book Mr. Nasaw would claim that Carnegie had a very good rationale in banishing the unions from his steel mills, and in forcing his workers to work for long hours and little pay -- because he wanted to make as much money to give back to his community as possible.
Considering that Carnegie was a prime subscriber to Herbert Spencer's Social Darwinism, that he was competitive (he worked hard to create the most efficient and profitable steel mill in the world), that he was a control freak (he would wrest back control of his corporation from his lieutenant Henry Clay Frick, who had proven himself nothing but loyal and competent), and that he was a megalomaniac (in his final years he would single-handedly attempt to solve all of the world's problems) it's fair to say that Carnegie in his heart felt he did not have to justify himself to anyone: he was just right. Breaking unions and exploiting workers meant efficient and profitable enterprises, and efficient entrepreneurs meant progress, modernity, and civilization.
Even if David Nasaw considered reasons for Carnegie's asexuality and considered the extent of Carnegie's narcissm and megalomania it would still have a pretty boring book, and it's because Carnegie -- despite all his greatness -- is not deserving of an 801-page biography. A naturally optimistic and positive individual his life did nothing but justify his worldview. An early beneficiary of the cronyism in the railroads he became a beneficiary of the U.S. government's tariffs to protect the steel industry against British competition. The only bumps in Carnegie's otherwise charmed life (the 1892 Homestead affair where Carnegie viciously and violently broke the unions and his nasty break with Henry Clay Frick, who then publicly declared how the tariff regime was grossly enriching Carnegie at the expense of American consumers) are interesting but did nothing to change the course of Carnegie's life. There is no conflict and climax in Carnegie's life, just one assured ascent borne of his work ethic and his optimism and his incredible luck.
The real star of the book should not have been Carnegie but the Gilded Age itself. Unfortunately and surprisingly Mr. Nasaw talks little of the Gilded Age, and instead chooses to write a a year-by-year account of Mr. Carnegie's life, including the tedious trivia of Carnegie's vacations. And do we really need to know every huge estate Carnegie bought and renovated?
I haven't read enough of Mr. Nasaw to know his ability as a historian but the problem with biographers is that they often internalize the values and thinking of their subjects. And this is a book that Carnegie could have easily written himself: be charming and be glib, stray and amuse with the trivial and personal, and talk for a long, long time until your readers have no choice but to agree with you.
 An Icon of a Biography for the Man of Steel October 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As a born and bred Pittsburgher, I really looked forward to this history of the Robber Baron years in my home town. I was not disappointed. This is a fascinating tale of Andrew Carnegie's life and his entanglements with the other powers of the era. Nasaw does a terrific job of getting into the detail of Carnegie's dealings and uncovering the myths of this powerful high roller. Living and making his millions before the Security and Exchange Commission came into the limelight, Carnegie and his friends were able to buy and sell stocks with impunity. Trading rights and warrants and patents for stock, these original Capitalists were able to exchange future value for present earnings/dividends. Additionally, their intertwined friendships and business dealings, perfectly legal in their day and totally illegal today, allowed them to acquire wealth by leveraging their current positions of power for insider information and contract preference in order to move money from stakeholders from one company and into their pockets. This was a fascinating time when "buyer beware" was not backed by the Government guaranties of today. They laid themselves on the line and used their own intuition to make their fortunes. Nasaw grabs the facts and headlines and details to the reader how it influenced Carnegie and his peers.
The main avenue of initial funding came from the funneling of money from the Pennsylvania Railroad run by J. Edgar Thomson and Thomas Scott (soon to be Assistant to Secretary of War, Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania) leveraged their holdings and executive powers into contracts produced by Scott during the Civil War which allowed them and their protégé, Andrew Carnegie, to extend their influence and money making via the Pennsylvania RR. This was the relationship (Thompson, Scott, and Carnegie) that funneled money into Carnegie's next set of investments.
This biography seems to be the definitive story of Carnegie's life as it is full of primary references to the original papers written by Andrew Carnegie and his friends and some enemies. This newly manifested documentation puts Nasaw's biography at the forefront. Nasaw often compares and contrasts this work to the widely read and referenced Andrew Carnegie Autobiography and points out the many discrepancies between that work and the actual documentation that Carnegie, himself authored. Additionally, the official biographer of Carnegie, Burton J. Hendrick, chosen by Louise Carnegie, is corrected many times by the exhausting research of Nasaw.
Nasaw gets into the nitty gritty of the financial arrangements of the railroad barons and gives very good examples of the dealings and failings of the system at that time. As I continued to read into this tome, I couldn't believe how it kept my interest through nearly 800 pages. I can honestly say that the more I read, the more I wanted to read. This is truly one of the best written biographies that I have ever read.
The only two small negatives that I found in this book (one is mentioned by at least a couple of other reviewers): there is not a lot to his private life that shows through once he is married. There are glimpses into his vacationing, but not really into the privacies of his marriage or his daughter, Margaret. This might be due to the length of the book. You do not get a good look at Louise or any depth of Carnegie's character away from business. The second flaw comes after the first 600 pages and we begin into Carnegie's retirement years. The book is very detailed and I'm not sure that I'd want it any differently, but these years are not the most exciting. There are very good nuggets of information along the way, but it seems a little long winded on the time frame being documented.
 Andrew Carnegie June 26, 2008
Insight into a fascinating and complex person living in a fascinating complex time. A man who was unique and had incredible influence on his surroundings, yet in many ways was typical of his era
Very thorough, but with an odd hollowness May 13, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
David Nasaw succeeded in creating a complete record of the life of Andrew Carnegie. As the reader, you come to know that Carnegie was born to a family of poor weavers in Scotland before moving to the United States, beginning work at a young age and eventually becoming unfathomably wealthy as an investor and entrepreneur in the steel business.
All of the details are there in this book, and in that way, you know the facts of Carnegie's life, but at the same time, you really never get the feeling you know Carnegie. I don't know if that is Nasaw's fault, or if Carnegie is just not a man who allows a biographer to know him very well. Either way, the book feels empty in a way that the best biographies feel full.
You catch glimpses of Carnegie's true personality; he obviously liked to see himself as the wise elder statesman, handing out advice to protoges, even when those protoges were successful 50 year old business men, or even presidents. He seems to wear out his welcome, and relationship with a lot of these people because he only sees the knowledge and advice flowing one way. Carnegie comes across as a man too removed from the realities of life to understand (or maybe care) how he was truly perceived.
Other than that, you never get a real feel for how Carnegie became wealthy, whether he possessed a unique talent or ability which allowed him to become the richest man in the world, or how he fit in to the world in which he lived. I recently finished "Mellon," by David Cannadine, which tackles a similarly tough subject, but I finished that book feeling like I had much more insight into the man than I did in this case.
Recommended for fans of history or biography, but still missing a critical spark required of a five-star biography.
Good Overview of the Original Capitalist April 3, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
How to describe Andrew Carnegie? Certainly he would have to be one of the most fortunate individuals to have ever been born. Son of a hardscrabble weaver from a small hamlet near Edinburgh, Scotland, Carnegie and family immigrated to Pennsylvania whan he was a young man. Perhaps never before in history, has a particular man, with certain skills, found himself at the right place, at the right time and under the right circumstances as did Andrew Carnegie in 19th century western Pennsylvania.
Despite having no formal education, Carnegie was certainly a very intelligent man. He educated himself over the years to the extent that he was considered a very philosophical author and sought after speaker on many of the issues of the day. He hitched his wagon to the right horse when he became assistant to an up and comer in the Pennsylvania Railroad. From an early age, Carnegie discovered the beauty of dividends and compound interest, money earned not by virtue of labor, but solely by virtue of having money. Due in large part to his connections, he was able to parley inside information into increasingly lucrative investments, to the point that he was soon able to turn over daily operation of his several businesses to very able lieutenants while he enjoyed the good life. These lieutenants, assisted by a series of unique events and developing technologies, made Carnegie the richest man in the world.
While it may sound as if Carnegie was merely an observer and accumulator, he certainly deserves much credit for his success. He was an early pioneer in the concept of cost accounting and through a ruthless system of unit cost reduction, both in the areas of vertical integration and labor cost, was able to successfully grow his business and survive numerous economic downturns which bankrupted his competitors.
Many decry Carnegie's business practices, most notably in the areas of labor/manangement relations and anti-competitive practices. However, this demonstrates a very common failing in many commentators; holding historical personages to current standards. The same people that condemn Carnegie's labor practices, denigrate George Washington for owning slaves, or Harry Truman for making racist comments. Each of these, though immoral by current standards, were men of their times.
Owners of manufacturing entities were expected to battle with labor. Labor, in the mid-late 19th century was heavily connected with the burgeoning socialist movement which was looked upon with disfavor by much of society. In fact, it is no coincidence that those of Carnegie's competitors whose labor forces became organized, were largely those that failed in the repeated economic panics of the day. Carnegie succeeded, and grew, as a result of reinvesting profits and maintaining low unit cost. Ironically, though his Homestead steel works became the symbol for labor/management violence, he considered himself one of the most enlightened managers of the day.
Carnegie is viewed, with Rockefeller, Morgan and Vanderbilt in the class of "Robber Barons" which sprang up during the era, however, Carnegie is vastly different than each of these individuals. While many of his contemporaries benefited and suceeded largely due to watered stock and market manipulation, he was very proud, and quick to point out that he never operated a corporation and never sold a share of stock. He was definitely NOT a monopolist (U.S. Steel was formed as a result of his sale of Carnegie Steel to J. P. Morgan and investors). He was simply a supreme capitalist and the first of his type and scale.
He is condemned by others for taking advantage of political and business connections not available to others. Again, that was common practice in the era. Many things that he did, while legislated against now, were perfectly legal and accepted business practices of the times.
All that having been said, I get the impression, especially in the later parts of the book, that Carnegie could be an insufferable prig. I imagine it becomes easy to view ones self as omnipotent and all wise, when everything one touches turns to gold and one is constantly praised for his good works. However, it is telling that he constantly bragged of being successful while only working 2-3 hours/day, lecturing his many employees to enjoy leisure time, while at the same time instituting a 12 hour/7 day a week work schedule. It seems almost unbelievable that he was unaware of the hypocrisy of some of actions, but after reading the book, I actually believe that he was. By letting his managers do the dirty work of making his money, he was able to "keep his hands clean" and disavow any unpleasantness that might result.
Though hopelessly naive, it is difficult to condemn a man who literally pioneered the concept of philanthropy and spent his last decade in a never flagging crusade for world peace. He tirelessly advocated the formation of a League of Nations/United Nations style world arbitration body, with military enforcement powers, well before any of his contemporaries. While he would doubtless be overjoyed to learn of the existence of the current United Nations, he would nonetheless be less than pleased with its corruption and lack of effective authority.
All in all, a rather good treatment, not just of Carnegie, but of the period itself and many of the historical figures of the era. At times, the book dragged and became tiresome, but not exceedingly so. I would highly recommend the book for anyone interested not just in Andrew Carnegie but in late 19th century American and British history.
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