Mellon: An American Life » (Reprint)

David Cannadine was born in Birmingham, England, in 1950 and educated at Cambridge, Oxford, and Princeton. He is the author of many acclaimed books, including the prizewinning The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy. He has taught at Cambridge and Columbia universities and now at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London.

From the Hardcover edition.

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. Following a boyhood in nineteenth-century Pittsburgh, Andrew Mellon overcame painful shyness to become one of America s greatest financiers. Across an unusually diverse range of enterprises, he would build a legendary personal fortune, tracking America s course to global economic supremacy. Personal happiness, however, eluded him. He had been bred to do one thing, and that he did with brilliant and innovative entrepreneurship. Mellon s wealth and name allowed him to dominate Pennsylvania politics, and under presidents Harding, Coolidge, and finally Hoover, he made the federal government run like a business. But this man of straightforward conservative politics was no politician. He would be hailed as the architect of the Roaring Twentie...

Library Journal

Cannadine (British history, Inst. of Historical Research, Univ. of London; The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy) presents the first comprehensive biography of Andrew W. Mellon (1855-1937), a long-awaited, extensively researched project that serves its subject well. Cannadine introduces us to the shy, reticent Mellon, born into a Pittsburgh family of achievers, before moving on to his early work in lumber and banking, his ill-fated marriage to Nora McMullen, and his constant indulgence of his children, Paul and Ailsa. In 1914, he was the richest man in the United States. In public life, he served as the longest and most controversial secretary of the Treasury, retaining that office during the politically conservative years of Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover. He reduced the public debt from $26 billion in 1921 to $16 billion by 1930. Late in life, he gave $10,000,000 and 21 masterpieces purchased from the Hermitage in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), to establish the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. As Cannadine shows us, when Mellon's life ended during the New Deal, he stood for fiscal policies that were no longer supported. This is a valuable portrait of a banker, statesman, philanthropist, and art collector whose initiatives still resonate today. Highly recommended for all libraries, especially public libraries with a well-established history or business collection. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/06.] Mary C. Allen, Everett Lib., WA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Preface     xi
Prologue: A Family in History     3
In the Shadow of His Father, 1855-1900
The Patriarch Presides: Father and Sons, 1855-73     27
The Family in Business: Boys and Banks, 1873-87     58
The "Mellon System" Inaugurated: "My Brother and I," 1887-98     89
The Great Leap Forward: Mergers and Matrimony, 1898-1900     123
Wealth's Triumphs, Fortune's Travails, 1900-1921
The Transition Completed: Family Man and Venture Capitalist, 1901-1907     155
The First Scandal: Separation and Divorce, 1907-12     186
Life Goes On: Business (Almost) as Usual, 1907-14     215
New Careers for Old: Single Parent, Aging Plutocrat, Emerging Politician, 1914-21     245
The Rise and Fall of a Public Man, 1921-33
Hard Times with Harding: Political Realities, Getting Started, Settling In, 1921-23     277
Better Years with Coolidge: Mellonizing America, Aggrandizing Himself, 1923-26     313
Carrying On with Hoover: Great Ideas to Great Crash, 1927-29     356
Triumphs amid Troubles: Fortune's Zenith, Russian Pictures, Pittsburgh Woes, 1929-31     395
"The Man Who Stayed Too Long": Depression, Departure, London and Back, 1931-33     435
Old Man, New Deal, 1933-37
His World Turned Upside Down: An Unhappy Homecoming, 1933-34     473
The Second Scandal: The"Tax Trial" and the National Gallery of Art, 1933-36     505
Beginnings and Endings: The Gallery Established, a Life in Its Fullness, 1936-37     546
Epilogue: A Fortune in History     583
The Mellon Family     622
A Note on Sources     625
Abbreviations for Notes     629
Notes     633
Acknowledgments     735
Index     739