I’ve been reading this book over the past 6 weeks or so — although it’s not a long book, it’s just a little specific historically, and with the whole baby thing, it’s taken some time. What a great title, though!
The story is about the relationship between Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick — the two men who really build Carnegie Steel into a behemoth of a company — and really the beginning of the age of titans here in the United States. Pretty fascinating history, about a time (late 1800s), region (Pittsburgh & surrounds), and industry (steel) that I don’t know a ton about. The book centers around the Homestead works — a very productive steel mill near Pittsburgh — and a labor conflict that left several dead, set labor relations in America back probably 40 years, and has echoes even to the current day. As you might surmise from the title, the once cordial relationship between the 2 men didn’t end up all that amicably.
Anyway, a good book, but probably of somewhat limited interest — only really for folks who are wondering about that era (leading up to the creation of US Steel by JP Morgan and others) or why everything in sight in higher education is named after Carnegie.
this is a very long and specific book.
on Carnegie's orders to do whatever was necessary, unleashed three hundred Pinkerton detectives, the result was the deadliest clash betwee
Nick Burns