"Andrew Carnegie and the Rise of Big Business" book review and overview of the life of Andrew Carnegie.

Andrew Carnegie and the Rise of Big BusinessHarold C. Livesay said in his book, Andrew Carnegie and the Rise of Big Business, that Carnegie "was a collection of paradoxes, this man of American steel-violent and peace-loving, ruthless and loyal, greedy and generous, boastful and diffident, vain and doubting, brash and shy". Andrew Carnegie was a quite normal in his younger years. He was born on November 25, 1835, and grew up in the rural town of Dunfermline, which was located in Scotland. His family was like many other families in Dunfermline. Dunfermline's livelihood depended on the hand weaving of linen," (pg 10) so when everything shifted to machine production, nearly 5,500 people lost their jobs. This was known as the Industrial Revolution. The Carnegies were one of those families that were affected by the rise of machines, which replaced workers. His mom tried to help the family income by cobbling and selling her work in a small store she opened in front of their house, but nothing worked out, despite efforts to find a steady job by his dad and mom. People started sailing to America because their "old home no longer promised anything at all." (pg 14)Andrew Carnegie got his first job when he got to America. He worked for a local textile mill as a bobbin boy getting paid $1.20 a week. The owner of this mill helped out because he gave preferential treatment to people from Scotland, which was his homeland. During this time, his father "failed as a man of the world" and "gave up in defeat and drifted back to the loom." (pg 21) His next job was for the O'Reilly Telegraph Company. He started off as a mere messenger boy but in time became a full-time telegrapher. He was later advanced to be the superintendent of Pennsylvania's railroad system. All of these jobs and entrepreneurs support Livesay's conclusion that Carnegie was ruthless in his career advances.

Andrew Carnegie was constantly trying to make money. Switching from job to job to get more money and later in