Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie

Life Skills Biographies

by Sarah E. De Capua

Readers will be introduced to Andrew Carnegie and his rise from impoverished immigrant to one of the world's wealthiest industrialists. Learn how this self-made master of the American steel industry put his leadership, determination, and wealth to good use by building libraries, schools, and universities that continue to benefit people today.

48 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2007

Reviews

[Kunal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book to give you a quick overview of Andrew Carnegie's life and is a very easy read for anyone who wants to learn about this incredible individual. From growing up as a poor kid in Scotland with a father who was a failed linen weaver and a mother who opened up a food and clothing shop in the front of their house to help support the family, Andrew Carnegie put the family's financial troubles on his shoulders at the young age of 13 when they moved to Pittsburgh. The family had a tough life with Andrew's little sister dying when she was just 1 years old and while Andrew Carnegie's younger brother lived a long healthy life, the loss of his young sister was certainly traffic. Andrew Carnegie went from making $1.20 a week at a linen factory to then moving to becoming a messenger at a telegraph company making $2.50 a week where a wealthy man from a railroad company noticed how skilled he was and hired him on to be his assistant at the railroad company. Andrew Carnegie was so successful there that he eventually rised to become the District Superintendent where he was making $2,400 a year and he made a number of wise investments and eventually left his railroad job to focus on his investments. His financial success allowed him to eventually start his own steel company which he eventually sold to J.P. Morgan in 1901 for $350 million. His poor upbringing largely contributed to his desire to be a philanthropist later in life and he ended up donating 90% of his financial net worth, which ended up being ~$325 million to charitable causes and just had $25 million left on his will. He believed that the wealthy should donate their money to charitable causes to advance the education and society at hand. His charitable causes ranged from building over 2,800 libraries in the U.S., New Zealand, Africa, etc. to building 7,000 church organs, to donating to 400 colleges / universities endowments, to donating money towards scientific research. Throughout his lifetime, he contributed over $2 million to Carnegie Hall which is the equivalent of $40 million today. His mother and his brother both sadly died in the same year and although he got very sick as well with Typhoid, he was able to live a long life into his 80s.

Overall, just a good easy book to read about an American icon that contributed so much to our society that everyone should be educated on.