Andrew Carnegie

Mr. Wall's writing style, coupled with the facts of Mr. Carnegie's life, held me enthralled as I read. One of the two books I have ever had the pleasure of being forced to read in a history class. ( )

1777 Andrew Carnegie, by Joseph Frazier Wall (read 23 Apr 1983) I found this biography, published in 1970, very interesting, and I believe it is the first biography of a businessman I've read since I read
Gustavus Myers' polemic, in three volumes, on great American fortunes, back in 1946. Carnegie's story is awfully interesting. He was born in Dunfermshire, Scotland (between Edinburgh and Glasgow) on 25 Nov 1835. His father was a weaver and he could get no work in Scotland, so in 1848 his parents and Andrew and his brother came to the U.S. Andrew's success in business was phenomenal and he became richer and richer, selling out this business interests in 1901--the U.S. Steel Corp being organized to take over the Carnegie interests. After that he spent his time on various causes--prominently international peace. The War in 1914 was a terrible blow to him, and he died 11 Aug 1919. I found I had tears in my eyes as I read of his last years! Some of the account of the business dealings seems kind of naive, like if the author didn't know the technical aspects too well, but maybe things were simply simpler in those days. Some of the accounts were long (this book is over 1000 pages) and not too interesting, but all in all I found this book excellent. Carnegie is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery at North Tarrytown, N.Y. I would like to see the stone. Many things about Carnegie weren't too bad, though his attitude to religion was bad. After he left his business he was against high tariffs. He was for a paternalistic attitude to labor, and claimed the massacre at Homestead wouldn't have happened if he'd been there. I thought this book very well done. The author is a history professor at Grinnell College ( )

Strongly readable biography, with fascinating insights into social history. Wall is a wonderful writer, and the book entertains throughout. ( )