Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie

In his own words: the rags to riches story of one of America's most famous and successful businessmen and philanthropists.

“A man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.” -Andrew Carnegie

From his humble beginnings as a Scottish immigrant to his ascension to wealth and power as a 'captain of industry,' Andrew Carnegie embodied the American 'rags to riches' dream. Alive in the time of the Civil War, Carnegie was the epitome of a self-made man, first working his way up in a telegraph company and then making astute investments in the railroad industry. Through hard work, perseverance, and an earnest desire to develop himself in his education, culture, and personal economy, Carnegie finally made his considerable fortune in steel. What is perhaps most remarkable about this historical figure, however, was his overwhelmingly generous practice of philanthropy in his later life.

It was through voracious reading and personal initiative that Carnegie became one of the richest men in American history. His autobiography recounts the real-life, rags-to-riches tale of an immigrant's rise from telegrapher's clerk to captain of industry and steel magnate. One of the earliest memoirs of an American capitalist, The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie appeared shortly after the 84-year-old author's death in 1919.

CONTENTS

I. Parents and Childhood

II. Dunfermline and America

III. Pittsburgh and Work

IV. Colonel Anderson and Books

V. The Telegraph Office

VI. Railroad Service

VII. Superintendent of the Pennsylvania

VIII. Civil War Period

IX. Bridge-Building

X. The Iron Works

XI. New York as Headquarters

XII. Business Negotiations

XIII. The Age of Steel

XIV. Partners, Books, and Travel

XV. Coaching Trip and Marriage

XVI. Mills and the Men

XVII. The Homestead Strike

XVIII. Problems of Labor

XIX. The "Gospel of Wealth"

XX. Educational and Pension Funds

XXI. The Peace Palace and Pittencrieff

XXII. Matthew Arnold and Others

XXIII. British Political Leaders

XXIV. Gladstone and Morley

XXV. Herbert Spencer and His Disciple

XXVI. Blaine and Harrison

XXVII. Washington Diplomacy

XXVIII. Hay and McKinley

XXIX. Meeting the German Emperor

Bibliography