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OverviewBusiness genius and hedonist, Charles Schwab entered the steel industry as an unskilled laborer and within twenty years advanced to the presidency of Carnegie Steel. He later became the first president of U.S. Steel and then founder of Bethlehem Steel. His was one of the most spectacular and curious success stories in an era of great industrial giants. How did Schwab progress from day laborer to titan of industry? Why did Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan select him to manage their multmillion-dollar enterprises? And how did he forfeit their confidence and lose the preseidency of U.S. Steel? Drawing upon previously undiscovered sources, Robert Hessen answers these questions in the first biography of Schwab. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Robert HessenPublisher: University of Pittsburgh Press Imprint: University of Pittsburgh Press Edition: New edition Dimensions: Width: 15.00cm , Height: 2.10cm , Length: 23.00cm Weight: 0.499kg ISBN: 9780822959069ISBN 10: 0822959062 Pages: 376 Publication Date: 09 October 1990 Audience: College/higher education , Undergraduate , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsReviewsAn excellent book based on extensive research in public and private archives, including those of Bethlehem Steel. . . . Informative, insightful, and a pleasure to read. <br> --American Historical Review An excellent book based on extensive research in public and private archives, including those of Bethlehem Steel. . . . Informative, insightful, and a pleasure to read. --American Historical Review This biography revives the Captain-of-Industry as opposed to the Robber Baron tradition. From a spare German-American Catholic youth, Schwab became Andrew Carnegie's number three man in his twenties and, having been ousted from U.S. Steel after a naval supply scandal in 1903, built Bethlehem Steel into the American Krupp. No inventive genius himself, Schwab nevertheless had an excellent instinct for innovation and expansion; to this extent the book makes its case that the early industrial magnates were not mere parasites but organizers and developers. The book provides detailed examination of perennial charges against Schwab for cheating on government contracts, war profiteering, and the like, while tending to fudge the sharp practices involved in Schwab's normal operations, which is unfortunate, not just in terms of moral bookkeeping but for the sake of accuracy regarding the way turn-of-the-century growth of the industry was accomplished. Hessen tones down labor clashes like the Homestead strike of 1892 so much that it will be hard for readers to comprehend why the steel barons drew such public outrage. And he denies that Schwab deserved the Nye Committee indictment as a merchant of death after WW I. In short, Hessen, a Hoover Institution associate, makes Schwab the businessman's businessman: quick, spectacular successes, triumphs after setbacks, canny coaxings and poundings for his work force, and the best of both government boons and private prerogatives. He enjoyed himself, too, as Hessen details, with mistresses, opera, and the biggest, gauchest house on Riverside Drive. Hessen's concern for detail, however, is used to best advantage in his lucid glosses of technological problems. Not exactly a balanced treatment, but useful. (Kirkus Reviews) An excellent book based on extensive research in public and private archives, including those of Bethlehem Steel. . . . Informative, insightful, and a pleasure to read. --American Historical Review An excellent book based on extensive research in public and private archives, including those of Bethlehem Steel. . . . Informative, insightful, and a pleasure to read. --American Historical Review Author InformationRobert Hessen is a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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