These chapters contain a great deal of business detail, but they serve to put Carnegie’s work into the context of the larger industrial revolution. The chapters entitled The Master Moneyman, The Master Builder and The Master Manager describe in detail how Carnegie rose to the top of his field. The middle of the book is devoted to illustrating Carnegie’s innovation in the business world. The author shows that Carnegie’s early jobs, ones most people would think of as “dead end”, were valuable learning experiences for Carnegie. America is a place where respectability can be earned by hard work, and Carnegie was determined to do that. He felt that he had to eclipse his father’s success. The author shows that young Andrew’s mother was a driving force for him. The Carnegie’s were new immigrants to America who faced the same issues of assimilation as any other immigrants. Chapters one and two (Flying Scots and The Climb Begins) show the genesis of Carnegie’s drive to succeed. Early in the book, the author sets the stage for Carnegie’s rise from rags to riches. The book is relatively short (240pp) and easily readable. His family was driven from Scotland because of industrialization, yet he became an industrialist. He was a man of his time, but he was also forward-thinking. He was ruthless in business, and he was generous in life. This lies in contrast to the man who later became a renowned philanthropist. He controlled their every move and resisted their attempts to unionize.
However, as his business grew to mammoth proportions he became more desensitized to his workers. Livesay also points out a number of contradictions in Carnegie’s life.Īs a man who came from humble means himself, Carnegie treated his early employees well. The author goes in to a good deal of detail about Carnegie’s accomplishments in management. His integration of horizontal and vertical industries was revolutionary and helped to make him into an extremely rich man. Chapter two is entitled “The Climb Begins.” The rest of the book is written prom that premise-It is a methodical climb from the bottom of society to the top.Ĭarnegie would become a management genius. The author moves through the key phases in Carnegie’s life, highlighting his greatest achievements. The book is written in a concise, yet informative style. This, in turn, made him a better manager and paved the way to his astounding success as an industrialist. He became intimately familiar with the factors of production. He shows that Carnegie’s variety of jobs was critical to his development. The author, however, has a slightly different take. One might simply think of him as being an aimless wanderer.
Andrew carnegie and the rise of big business sparknotes series#
This cultural background serves as a driving force for Carnegie and allusions to it appear throughout the book.Ĭarnegie’s early life was characterized by a series of job changes. The early chapters describe Carnegie’s Scottish background. The book begins with an editor’s preface written by Oscar Handlin and acknowledgements. In his book Harold Livesay profiles the man who came to define the industrialism of his era. Andrew Carnegie exemplified these changes. It signifies both a rapid increase in technology and the new style of business management that emerged as a result. “The Industrial Revolution” is a term that describes a multi-faceted, ongoing process of change. Andre Carnegie, for all his success was conflicted in some ways. The author shows in this book that the dream is not necessarily a perfect one. Innovation, Intelligence and hard work can take a person to the top. Harold Livesay, in Andrew Carnegie and the Rise of Big Business, writes a classic rags to riches story.
Andrew Carnegie and the Rise of Big BusinessĪndrew Carnegie and the American dream are synonymous.
0 kommentar(er)
