Mellon: An American Life
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.84 (791 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0307386791 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 832 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-03-14 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Andrew Mellon, one of America’s greatest financiers, built a legendary personal fortune from banking to oil to aluminum manufacture, tracking America’s course to global economic supremacy. As treasury secretary under Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and finally Hoover, Mellon made the federal government run like a business–prefiguring the public official as CEO. He would be hailed as the architect of the Roaring Twenties, but, staying too long, would be blamed for the Great Depression, eventually to find himself a broken idol. Collecting art was his only nonprofessional gratification and his great gift to the American people, The National Gallery of Art, remains his most tangible legacy.. A landmark work from one of the preeminent historians of 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
Cannadine does not shy from pointing out the hypocrisy and insensitivity in his subject-especially in his devastating behavior toward his unfaithful wife-but remains sympathetic throughout, providing a balanced look at a supremely principled businessman who made some startlingly unprincipled choices. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. From Publishers Weekly In this volume, the first published "full-scale life" of financial pioneer Andrew Mellon-who would help propel the country to economic domination, serve as servant and scapegoat for powerful White House administrations, and establish the National Gallery of Art-biographer Cannadine (In Churchill's Shadow) tackles every aspect of a towering American f
The original Venture Capitalist JB Vick If you love books about audacius, bad assed business men, then read this one. Mellon was a VC. The two unicorns he backed were Alcoa Aluminum and Gulf Oil. And oh, a small bank that beared his name.His Scotch Irish decent served him well until the Great Depression hit. Then his Scotch Irish decent failed him miserably because he couldnt accept the thought of deliberately expanding the money supply. As Treasury Secretary he was the guiding hand for Hoover and Mellon couldnt see the forest for the trees. His immense wealth kept him from. "AN EXCELLENT AND COMPREHENSIVE WORK" according to a reader in the U.S.. Though I can not claim to be altogether objective about the subject matter in much of this great book, I must congratulate Cannadine for a masterful study of what has been an extremely closed subject for a long, long time - most of all in the Mellon's home town of Pittsburgh. The late Paul Mellon must be given a lot of credit for breaking with family tradition - first for allowing the book "Thomas Mellon And His Times" to see the light of public day and then to let it all hang out with Cannadine with regard to sources and family paper. The Iceman Pugwash Andrew Mellon is a man whose life and legacy has cast such a major shadow over post-depression America, that it continues to accrue, like small interest reinvestment to this day.This book traces the rise of the austere, suppressed financial leader. It tells of being born to a financial tycoon, and taking the reins of the business and guiding it through a tsunami of growth with detached and dispassionate wisdom.This is a sprawling biography, guiding us through the generation preceding Andrew, and leaving a strong flavor of the eras rep