Download Mellon: An American Life AudioBook Free
A landmark work from one of the preeminent historians in our time: the first published biography of Andrew W. Mellon, the American colossus who bestrode the worlds of industry, government, and philanthropy, leaving his transformative stamp on each.Carrying out a boyhood in 19th-century Pittsburgh, during which he learned from his Scotch-Irish immigrant father the lessons of self-sufficiency and wealth accumulation, Andrew Mellon overcame painful shyness to become one of America's greatest financiers. Across an unusually diverse selection of enterprises, from banking to oil to aluminum manufacture, he built a legendary personal fortune, tracking America's course to global monetary supremacy. The Mellon way was to hold companies closely, including such iconic enterprises as Alcoa and Gulf Oil.Personal happiness eluded Mellon, however: his loveless marriage at 45 to a British girl less than half his age ended in a scandalous divorce, and for all his best efforts, he'd remain a stranger to his children. He previously been bred to do a very important factor, and that he did with brilliant and ground breaking entrepreneurship. Collecting art, a pursuit inspired by his good friend Henry Clay Frick, would become his only nonprofessional gratification. And by the end of his life, Mellon's "pictures" would constitute one of the world's foremost private collections.The problems Andrew W. Mellon confronted, concerning government, business, influence, the average person and the general public good, remain at the center in our national discourse to this day. Indeed, the positions he steadfastly held reemerged relatively intact with the Reagan revolution, having lain dormant since the New Deal. David Cannadine's magisterial biography brings alive a towering, controversial figure, casting new light on our history and the evolution in our public values.