Andrew Carnegie: Robber Baron as American Hero (Creators of the American Mind) - Softcover

Baker, James T.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 015500011X ISBN 13: 9780155000117

Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing, 2002

Synopsis

Andrew Carnegie, a destitute immigrant who became the richest man of his time, helped create "the American mind" by personifying the rags-to-riches story that was the American ideal in the early twentieth century. In this fourth volume of the CREATORS OF THE AMERICAN MIND series, James T. Baker writes a compelling biography that explores how and why Andrew Carnegie continues to exert such a profound influence over the American mind. Like the other volumes in this series, this text includes selections from the subject's contemporaries, scholarly analyses of the subject's life and influence, and comparisons to modern individuals who embody the traits of the subject covered in the text.

About this title

About the Author:

Dr. James T. Baker is a graduate of Baylor and Florida State Universities. He holds the title of University Distinguished Professor of History at Western Kentucky University. He has been a Fulbright Senior Lecturer in American Studies in both Korea and Taiwan, and for twenty years he directed and taught in study-abroad programs for American students in Britain and Ireland. He is now director of the United States Interns to the Canadian Parliament Program in Ottawa. He has published books on figures such as Thomas Merton, Jimmy Carter, Eric Hoffer, Ayn Rand, Brooks Hays, and Studs Terkel. Professor Baker serves as series editor for the Creators of the American Mind series and has contributed earlier volumes on Nat Turner, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

Review:

"I think ANDREW CARNEGIE: 'ROBBER BARON' AS 'AMERICAN HERO' would be an excellent addition to my students' reading list."

"I was particularly impressed with the book's basic structure. It covers Carnegie's contribution to American history well, but then it goes the extra mile in a way I seldom see in such books. It places Carnegie in historical context by offering his own accounts ... and contemporary pieces by the likes of Booker T. Washington, Eugene Debs, Louis Brandeis, Edward Bellamy, and Mark Twain. All of these pieces ... provide numerous opportunities for students to begin understanding a figure like Carnegie in a broader context. ... My favorite aspects of the entire book are the modern pieces which speak loudly to today's students who hold Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and Ted Turner in such high regard. These selections allow professors to make connections to ... today's students who might then perceive Carnegie and others ... in a different light."

About this edition

• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 015500011X
• ISBN 13: 9780155000117
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 170