How Andrew Carnegie Became the Richest Man in the World (and then gave it all away)

Mr. Beat tells the story of the first dude in history to give all his money away- Andrew Carnegie.

Also a shout out to Chuck Feeney!

Produced by Matt Beat and Beat Productions, LLC. All images/video by Matt Beat, Shannon Beat, found in the public domain, or used under fair use guidelines. Music by @ElectricNeedleRoom (Mr. Beat's band) and Otis McDonald.

Creative commons credits:

Niagara, David Brossard, AgnosticPreachersKid, Popscreenshot, Mcwesty, and Ajay Suresh

Sources/further reading:

The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie and His Essay The Gospel of Wealth

Edited by Gordon Hutner

Purchase here

Or get it for free

Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw

Purchase here

Andrew Carnegie: Captain of Industry

Here's an annotated script with footnotes

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Carnegie proved that not just people born into privilege could become extremely wealthy. Sure, he was ruthless at times. Many argue that he exploited and dehumanized his workers. Throughout his working career, he seemingly prioritized the bottom line over all else. It was all about making as much money as possible. He believed individualism ultimately improved society more than collectivism.

But Andrew Carnegie would argue that the ends justifies the means. He argued that the rich were obligated to use their wealth to give back to society. Heck, he even argued that if the rich weren’t going to give back willingly to society, then governments should tax them so that they are forced to give back. Carnegie firmly believed that the future leaders of society would and SHOULD come from the working class.