Andrew Carnegie, whose lifetime spanned the era from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to the First World War was America's first modern titan. In this magnificent biography, celebrated historian David Nasaw brings to life this period of unprecedented transition -- a time of self-made millionaires, scabs, strikes, and a new kind of philanthropy -- through the fascinating rags-to-riches story of one of our most iconic business legends.

The Scottish-born son of a failed weaver and a mother who supported the family by binding shoes, Andrew Carnegie is the embodiment of the American dream. He rose from a job as a bobbin boy in a cotton factory to become a telegraph messenger, Pennsylvania Railroad employee, bridge builder, bond trader, iron and steel maker, and eventually, the richest man in the world. In this climb to power and in the accumulation of his fortune he was single-minded and relentless and a major player in some of the most violent and notorious labor strikes of the time. The prototype of today's billionaire, he was a visionary in the way that he earned his money and in the way that he gave it away. Yet he has remained to this day, an enigma and a man of striking contradictions.

David Nasaw is the author of the nationally bestselling biography The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst, winner of the Bancroft Prize, the J. Anthony Lukas Prize, the Ambassador Book Award, and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography; Going Out: The Rise and Fall of Public Amusements; and Children of the City: At Work and at Play. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, Conde Nast's Traveler, the London Review of Books, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications. He lives in New York City.

Recently named as one of the Best Voices of the Century by AudioFile, Grover Gardner is an actor, director, and award-winning narrator. His recordings have received excellent reviews from Kliatt and Library Journal, and several have received AudioFile Earphones Awards. He is currently serving as Resident Director for the Everyman Theater.