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Primary sourceBook1920 (published posthumously)

The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie · 1920 (published posthumously)

Carnegie's own memoir, published after his death, telling his life story from poor immigrant boy to steel magnate.

Carnegie's own memoir of his life, written in his retirement and published after his death.

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Front cover of a dark blue cloth-bound book with a textured fabric surface and a spine along the left edge, showing no visible title or text in this view.
Andrew Carnegie, Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, published 1920, London: Constable & Co.

About this source

What it is

This is Andrew Carnegie's autobiography, written in his later years and published in 1920, after his death, with an editor's note by John C. Van Dyke and a preface by his wife Louise Whitfield Carnegie.

Why it matters

The book is the main source for Carnegie's famous "self-made man" story, describing his rise from bobbin boy and telegraph messenger to one of the richest industrialists in America. It shaped how he wanted to be remembered, and historians still rely on it while also questioning how selective his memory may have been.

Look closer

  • Why might Carnegie have wanted to tell his own story this way?
  • What parts of his life might he have left out or softened?
  • How does the cover and publishing history affect how we read it today?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Andrew Carnegie on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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