Lexington Books
Pages: 150
•
Trim: 6 x 9
978-0-7391-8983-2 • Hardback • October 2015 • $96.00 • (£74.00)
978-0-7391-8984-9 • eBook • October 2015 • $91.00 • (£70.00)
Samuel Bostaph is emeritus professor of economics at the University of Dallas.
Chapter One Entrepreneurial, Entrepreneurship, and Entrepreneurs
Chapter Two Early Life in Scotland
Chapter Three Youth in Western Pennsylvania
Chapter Four On the Road to Wealth
Chapter Five A Man of Steel
Chapter Six Labor Relations
Chapter Seven Empire Builder
Chapter Eight Philanthropist
Chapter Nine A Summing Up
Bostaph succinctly and effectively distills the career and economic context of steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, packing the punch of a book twice its length . . . After a brief overview of how to conceptualize entrepreneurship, the volume methodically follows Carnegie from childhood in Scotland to successes in business and philanthropic endeavors. Bostaph shows that much of Carnegie’s early success relied on questionable insider dealings with Pennsylvania Railroad colleagues but notes that his ability to adopt innovations, motivate subordinates, relentlessly cut costs, and efficiently coordinate markets was the ultimate cause of his phenomenal successes. The best chapter explains that condemnations of Carnegie’s labor relations (especially during the Homestead Strike) are ill-founded, yet Bostaph is quick to criticize Carnegie’s self-deluded misrepresentations and mistreatment of his key partner, Henry Clay Frick. Although the Kirznerian 'market process' approach adopted by Bostaph is useful, the dynamic Carnegie who emerges in this biography comes across as a truly 'unique being' along the lines described by Joseph Schumpeter. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.
— Choice Reviews
Given its brevity and its focus on the issues of government intervention, firm governance, and property rights, this is the biography that I would recommend to a generalist wanting to understand Carnegie…. By putting the firm’s history into an alternative economic context, this book reveals much about Carnegie and the steel industry…. I hope to see similar works from him on other historical figures.
— Eh.Net: The Economic History Network
Carnegie has been the subject of several long biographies, but Samuel Bostaph, professor emeritus at the University of Dallas, has given us something different: a short economic biography that captures the high points in Carnegie’s life and career. Bostaph’s book is well written and balanced in its evaluation of the wily Scot…. [A]s Samuel Bostaph shows in his excellent biography, a great entrepreneur does more than any politician to improve the quality of life for ordinary people.
— Future of Freedom
Dr. Sam Bostaph has created an entirely new category of economic research and writing: the economic biography. Most biographies of men like Andrew Carnegie are written by historians with little or no background in economics, which often leads to false or incomplete conclusions. Dr. Bostaph's economic biography of Andrew Carnegie is the one to read for students of one of America's most famous (and notorious) entrepreneurs.
— Thomas J. DiLorenzo, Loyola College of Maryland