Before the 99% occupied Wall Street... Before the concept of social justice had impinged on the social conscience... Before the social safety net had even been conceived... By the turn of the 20th Century, the era of the robber barons, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) had already accumulated a staggeringly large fortune; he was one of the wealthiest people on the globe. He guaranteed his position as one of the wealthiest men ever when he sold his steel business to create the United States Steel Corporation. Following that sale, he spent his last 18 years, he gave away nearly 90% of his fortune to charities, foundations, and universities. His charitable efforts actually started far earlier. At the age of 33, he wrote a memo to himself, noting ..".The amassing of wealth is one of the worse species of idolatry. No idol more debasing than the worship of money." In 1881, he gave a library to his hometown of Dunfermline, Scotland. In 1889, he spelled out his belief that the rich should use their wealth to help enrich society, in an article called "The Gospel of Wealth" this book. Carnegie writes that the best way of dealing with wealth inequality is for the wealthy to redistribute their surplus means in a responsible and thoughtful manner, arguing that surplus wealth produces the greatest net benefit to society when it is administered carefully by the wealthy. He also argues against extravagance, irresponsible spending, or self-indulgence, instead promoting the administration of capital during one's lifetime toward the cause of reducing the stratification between the rich and poor. Though written more than a century ago, Carnegie's words still ring true today, urging a better, more equitable world through greater social consciousness.

Words of wisdom from American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie Focusing on Carnegie's most famous essay, "The Gospel of Wealth," this book of his writings, published here together for the first time, demonstrates the late steel magnate's beliefs on wealth, poverty, the public good, and capitalism. Carnegie's commitment to ensuring and promoting the welfare of his fellow human beings through philanthropic deeds ranged from donations to universities and museums to establishing more than 2,500 public libraries in the English-speaking world, and he gave away more than $350 million toward those efforts during his lifetime. The Gospel of Wealth is an eloquent testament to the importance of charitable giving for the public good. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Norton Garfinkle paints a disquieting picture of America today: a nation increasingly divided between economic winners and losers, a nation in which the middle-class American Dream seems more and more elusive. Recent government policies reflect a commitment to a new supply-side winner-take-all Gospel of Wealth. Garfinkle warns that this supply-side economic vision favors the privileged few over the majority of American citizens striving to better their economic condition. Garfinkle employs historical insight and data-based economic analysis to demonstrate compellingly the sharp departure of the supply-side Gospel of Wealth from an American ideal that dates back to Abraham Lincoln—the vision of America as a society in which ordinary, hard-working individuals can get ahead and attain a middle-class living, and in which government plays an active role in expanding opportunities and ensuring against economic exploitation. Supply-side economic policies increase economic disparities and, Garfinkle insists, they fail on technical, factual, moral, and political grounds. He outlines a fresh economic vision, consonant with the great American tradition of ensuring strong economic growth, while preserving the middle-class American Dream.

Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was a Scottish immigrant to the United States. He arrived as a poor child, but--as the epitome of the "rags to riches" story, built himself into one of the richest men in the world. As a young man, who worked as a telegraph operator, and used his wits and business acumen to parlay his job into greater investments during and after the Civil War. Those investments in railroads, bridges, oil derricks, and more made him very wealthy by the 1880s. Then he brought the Bessemer process for steel-making to the United States, and eventually sold his Carnegie Steel Company for $480 million in 1901 (the current equivalent of nearly $14 billion). Following that accumulation of staggering wealth, Carnegie dedicated the remainder of his life to philanthropy, giving away nearly 90 percent of his fortune by the time of his death. His 1889 article "Wealth" (later retitled "The Gospel of Wealth") details his belief in the responsibility of philanthropy by the self-made rich. He wrote that the best way of dealing with the new phenomenon of wealth inequality was for the wealthy to redistribute their surplus means in a responsible and thoughtful manner, arguing that surplus wealth produces the greatest net benefit to society when it is administered carefully by the wealthy. He also argues against extravagance, irresponsible spending, or self-indulgence, instead promoting the administration of capital during one's lifetime toward the cause of reducing the stratification between the rich and poor. Carnegie's massive philanthropic efforts especially emphasized libraries, world peace, education, and scientific research. He built Carnegie Hall, and founded the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carnegie Institution for Science, the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, the Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.

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The Definitive Edition of Andrew Carnegie’s Classic on How Wealth Is Won—and Rightly Used Here is a unique edition of The Gospel of Wealth in which Carnegie’s original statement is combined with its two sequels for a full-circle experience of the industrialist’s meditation on purposeful money-getting. PEN Award-winning historian Mitch Horowitz introduces this volume and weaves together Carnegie’s essays for an illuminating journey through the thought of one of history’s wealthiest men. In this expanded and definitive edition of Carnegie’s writing on wealth you will discover the industrialist’s perspective on: The law of competition and its necessity for human progress. The proper way to spend fortunes and the problem of inheritance. How mass wealth gets created. The proper circumstances under which to get rich. Mitch’s introduction provides the historical background of Carnegie’s work, and his weaving together of Carnegie’s essay with its follow-ups supplies the most complete insight into the financial thinking of one of the titans of modern commerce.