Empire of Business

Andrew Carnegie was the richest man in human history, then gave most of it away. This 1902 collection of essays reveals the mind behind the fortune. Here is Carnegie the businessman, economist, philosopher, and prophet of prosperity, writing with startling directness about how wealth is made, what it owes to society, and why the climb out of poverty is humanity's grandest enterprise. He dissects the American oil, coal, rail, and steel industries with the confidence of a man who built one of them. He argues for tariffs, defends capital, grapples with labor unrest, and offers blunt advice on thrift, integrity, and the cultivation of oneself. Best of all is "The Three Legged Stool," his famous meditation on the tripod of success. These pages capture capitalism at its most idealistic, just before the Progressive Era would reshape everything. For anyone who wants to understand the roots of American business culture, or who wonders how one man thought about money, power, and obligation, this is the source.