Andrew Carnegie stood on the deck of the passenger ship Wiscasset and listened to the men as they talked about America. Only a few days before, he and his parents had left their native Scotland. Power looms had replaced the hand looms in Scotland; and for Andrew's father, a humble weaver, there was no work. The Carnegies were on their way to Pennsylvania to build a new life.

A salty night breeze ruffled Andrew's pale blond hair. "What would America be like?" he wondered. And what would he do in this strange new land?

No one, not even Andrew himself, dreamed that in years to come the name of Carnegie would be known all over the world. For no one could believe that a poor weaver's son would build an empire of steel to revolutionize industry for all time.

Thanks to Andrew Carnegie and the Age of Steel, today we build giant steel-framed skyscrapers, graceful steel bridges, steel-bodied cars and planes, and even rockets.

In Andrew Carnegie and the Age of Steel, Katherine B. Shippen recreates an amazing life story of struggle and success.  Andrew Carnegie fought for his pennies, his education, and his very existence, in a time when all of these things were hard to earn and harder to keep. But the little Scotsman finally won wealth and fame and the respect and gratitude of men who lived after him.

From the dust jacket