Andrew Carnegie's life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Andrew Carnegie's life - Essay Example He built the Carnegie Steel Company in Pittsburgh. The company later merged with Elbert Gary’s Federal Steel Company along with a few smaller companies and the US Steel was formed. Carnegie had always invested his money to make profit as well as for the betterment of the society. He established a many libraries, schools colleges and universities. In short, he was a philanthropist. In keeping with his achievements and contributions made to the world at large, we will discuss his memoir, The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie and the Gospel of Wealth. The book is a narration of his success story and a discourse on wealth suggesting that the rich should invest their wealth to uplift the society. In his autobiographical note, Carnegie refers to the saying that he is born ‘of poor but honest parents, of good kith and kin’. The adherence to this particular notion of birth stated that he is quite explicit in admitting his ascribed status. It also shows that sticking to moral values is his way of approach to life. We had seen Carnegie as a man full of positive forces. In his autobiography, he says that he is indebted to his grandfather for his ‘optimistic nature, and ‘ability to shed trouble and laugh through life’. (Carnegie, 8) Carnegie in this book admits that he has inherited the ‘scribbling propensities’ (Carnegie, 8) from his maternal grandfather Thomas Morrison. His maternal grandfather and grandmother are his source of inspiration and they give stress to education. We had also found in Carnegie’s social work, his wholehearted support to the sphere of education. Carnegie father’s premature death brought him even m ore close to his mother. In his autobiography, he describes her as his ‘favorite Heroine’. (Carnegie, 9) His faith in family values was the key to his success and his recognition all over the world.   He states that it was his privilege to rear up in Scotland,