andrew carnegie went from a poor scottish immigrant to one of the richest people in the world.
in 1901, he sold carnegie steel to j.p. morgan for $480 million, then spent the rest of his life trying to give most of his fortune away. he ultimately gave away about $350 million and helped fund 2,509 libraries.
the interesting contradiction is that the fortune behind all that philanthropy came from an industrial empire known for brutal working conditions and major labor conflict.
one life somehow became a story about capitalism, extreme wealth, labor, and philanthropy all at once.
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