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.
