Nov 1: Andrew Carnegie Lecture

David Nasaw: Andrew Carnegie
Lecture and book signing
Thursday, November 1, 6:30 p.m.T
he Great Hall
7 East 7th Street at Third Avenue
Free

Without education or contacts, Andrew Carnegie rose from poverty to become the richest person in the world. Having decided while relatively young and poor to give all his money away in his lifetime, he embraced philanthropy with the same energy and creativity as he did making money. Although Carnegie did much to try and help the disadvantaged, the author characterizes Carnegie as a true robber baron, a ruthless and hypocritical strikebreaker who made much of his money through practices that have since been outlawed. David Nasaw, who has uncovered important new material among Carnegie's papers and letters, will try to explain the Carnegie paradox—how such an ordinary-seeming person could achieve so much and embody such contradictions.

David Nasaw is professor of history at the CUNY Graduate Center. His other books include The Chief: Life and Times of William Randolph Hearst, Going Out: The Rise and Fall of Public Amusements, Children of the City: At Work and at Play and Schooled to Order: A Social History of Public Schooling in United States.