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Audiobook edition · 13 h 17 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does a steel tycoon remember about the weaver’s cottage where his life begins?
In Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, a boy from Dunfermline crosses the Atlantic and starts work in a cotton mill. Telegrams lead him toward Thomas A. Scott and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Carnegie tells his own story of work, opportunity, and the choices that carry him toward iron, bridges, and steel.
As his fortune grows, Carnegie faces another question: what should wealth be for? He explains his belief in giving it away and shares the friendships, travels, and causes beyond business. His voice is warm, funny, and boastful, but sometimes blind. This is a life seen through its owner’s eyes, not a balanced judgment of his labor record.
What you’ll discover
- From cottage to cotton mill Follow a Scottish family as lost work gives way to the demands of earning in Allegheny.
- Books that open doors Meet Colonel James Anderson, whose private library welcomes working boys and feeds Carnegie’s love of reading.
- Railroads, risk, and partners Explore the habits Carnegie credits with success, from thrift to choosing partners better than himself.
- The making of steel wealth See Pittsburgh, railroads, iron, and bridges through the account of a man building his fortune.
- The purpose of giving Consider Carnegie’s conviction that wealth is a trust, alongside his support for libraries and peace.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who love rags to riches stories, the age of railroads and steel, and Scottish roots. It also suits anyone curious about how a fortune became libraries, pensions, and peace work.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A working life begins with little
- Family gives ambition its first shape
- Every job can become a school
- Learning prepares him to take responsibility
- Honest goods need honest accounting
- Steel rewards knowledge and financial restraint
- Labor conflict tests respect for workers
- Wealth carries a duty beyond ownership
- Steady habits give ambition its direction
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- Large print hardcover
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Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie
by Andrew Carnegie · 1920
A bobbin boy earning one dollar and twenty cents a week builds a steel empire, then sells it and distributes his wealth.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
A boy sweeps the floor of a telegraph office in Pittsburgh for two dollars and fifty cents a week. Fifty-one years later he sells his steel business and devotes his retirement to giving away his wealth.
Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie at a glance
- Reading time
- About 7 h 45 min6 h 10 min fast, 9 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 111,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1920by Andrew Carnegie
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A weaver's son learns pride and rebellion
Andrew Carnegie is born on November 25, 1835, in the attic of a small house in Dunfermline, Scotland. His father is a damask weaver. His grandfather is a joker who still frightens elderly neighbors in disguise at seventy-five. From him, Andrew says, he inherits a sunny nature that can be trained like a muscle.
His mother's family is full of radical talk. Uncle Bailie Morrison calms an angry crowd outside a jail by asking friends of the good cause to fold their arms. Andrew grows up a young republican who hates privilege. Tales of the hero Wallace follow him through the dark Abbey churchyard.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1920
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Carnegie, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie.
Carnegie, A. (2026). Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie (Original work published 1920)
Carnegie, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie.
@book{carnegie2026autobiography,
author = {Carnegie, Andrew},
title = {Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/autobiography-of-andrew-carnegie},
note = {First published 1920}
}
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What is the Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie about?
It tells his life from his birth in Scotland in 1835 through his years as a telegraph boy, railroad man, and steel maker, to his retirement and his giving of libraries, pensions, and peace funds.
Who are the main people in Carnegie's autobiography?
His mother Margaret, father William, and Uncle Lauder shape his youth. Later come Thomas Scott, Henry Phipps, Charles Schwab, and friends such as Gladstone, Lincoln, Matthew Arnold, and Mark Twain.
What is the Gospel of Wealth that Carnegie mentions?
It is his own book arguing that rich people should distribute their surplus fortune for public good during their lives. In the autobiography he explains how he lived by it after retiring in 1901.
The author
Andrew Carnegie
1835–1919 · Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist
Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1835. He moved to Pennsylvania in 1848 and built a steel business in the United States. He funded libraries and educational institutions. He wrote essays and an autobiography, published after his death in 1920. He died in Massachusetts in 1919.
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