Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Changed America

This was an excellent, well researched history of the relationship between Carnegie and Frick and the history of the steel industry in this country. I learned so much about the Homestead strike and about Carnegie's complex personality. - the man who claimed that laborers were equal to their managers yet condoned the Homestead strike turning against the workers upon whose backs he became wealthy. I live in Pittsburgh and have heard it said that Carnegie's philanthropy was his way of buying his way into heaven but never understood it as clearly as I did after reading this book. Frick, on the other hand, was anti-labor and anti-union from the beginning.I loved this book and believe that this is an excellent way to learn history. It is interesting to compare the society of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century with the United States today with corporate America becoming wealthy beyond our wildest imaginations at the expense of laborers who are poorly paid and told that they are fungible despite their skills or their loyalty to the company.

Fascinating, near Shakespearean characters. An America long gone and that only existed for a few decades, bridging pre and post industrial. And, ah, the drive for money.

I'm a Pittsburgh native and so this book was so engrossing for many reasons. I remember the stench, filth, and fascination of the steel mills. I have also read a lot on the Johnstown flood. I was curious to learn if these men felt any responsibility for the flood disaster. I was generally interested in their competitive and unique partnership. The book was recommended to me and it didnt disappoint. Very fascinating and a quick read. I was completely drawn in and immersed in the book. I would definitely read more and found the effective use of the press and their comments to sway the public to their side so similar to how things go these days. Super good read

Two men who made their fortunes together and separately as their development of the Steel industry in America coincided with America's rise to the top of the industrial countries of the world. Late 19th and early 20th century witnessed the "rags" to enormous riches that Carnegie and Frick generated.Standiford well and in depth describes their intricate and engaging yet tragic relationship with primary focus on the Homestead ‎Strike and Massacre of June 1892. Frick was head of the Carnegie Steel Co and had decided NOT to accede to the Union's demands under all circumstances. He locked out the workers and had employed Pinkerton agents to secure the mill and plant so non union people could replace the Union workers. There was a confrontation that led to 12 killed and 23 wounded. Carnegie had supported a lockout only without the use of force as well as supporting Frick's decisions. Eventually Frick prevailed and essentially ended the Union's power until the 1930's. He also created a negative image of himself and Carnegie that endured until and beyond their deaths in1919.The deviousness of Frick driven by his need for more and more power and money conflicted with Carnegie's‎ own need to remain the most powerful and wealthy person in the USA. Carnegie seemed more atuned to the negative energy attributed to him and devoted many years to charitable endeavors eg he funded nearly 2800 libraries, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh.His vast fortune nearly $400 million in 1901 (approx $30 Billion today) was used in part to fund major initiatives for the good of others. Frick was less wealthy but did leave the Frick museum and collection to the world as well as an substantial endowment.All these good deeds did not mitigate some of anger related to the means that were used to amass these fortunes.Their falling out was caused by their stubborness and egos. Carnegie did reach out in 1915 with a missive delivered by a confidante of Carnegie's who waited for Frick's response: "Tell him I will meet him in Hell".Engaging read as we live with so many of their gifts to our world and to some of the curses of Big business.Quotes:Frick's ire was, after all, legendary‎. He'd gone toe to toe with strikers, assassins and even Carnegie himself, and had rarely met a grudge he could not hold.Max Weber argued, the concept of working in order to live was reversed. In an industrialized society, man now lived in order to work. And the surest indication of "good" work was the amassing of wealth.So while Carnegie could be ruthless in his pursuit of material success, he could be equally passionate in the defense of justice for the common man.Carnegie might have explained that he was only trying to live up to one of his more famous dicta: "The man who dies rich, dies disgraced".

We live in a time where it's hard to comprehend the wealth, power, and influence wielded by men like Carnegie, Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, and Vanderbilt. Folks like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett carry only a whisper of the Goliath stature that was attained by a select few in the 1800s."Meet You in Hell" is Les Standiford's telling of the story of the rise and fall of a relationship between two such men, Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. Frick, the lesser known of the two, created an empire of his own in coke production (the steel-making input, not the soda or the drug) before being swallowed up by Carnegie Steel and agreeing to run that entire operation for Carnegie.Carnegie was a man accustomed to getting his own way, but his new employee Frick possessed his own ideas on how a company should be run. The differences between the two surfaced occassionally early in their relationship, and were tested further by the Homestead Mill strike in 1890s which ended in the deaths of many strikers and Pinkerton detectives.This conflict is the true focus of this book, but interestingly doesn't come across as the watershed in the relationship between Carnegie and Frick that Standiford really wants it to be for the sake of his book. That honor comes later, when Frick tries to trick Carnegie into selling his company to a secret group of speculators with a terrible reputation on Wall Street.This book is still quite an interesting story about the Homestead strike, labor relations in the industrial age, and the realtionship between two titans of industry, but the stories don't mesh the way Standiford sets you up to believe they will. That doesn't hurt this book much - it's still well worth reading - but it's interesting that Standiford stuck with this central premise long after his research and even his own writing showed that it had fallen apart.Flawed, but certainly not fatally so. Still recommended for its history of labor relations, the relationship between Carnegie and Frick, and the US steel industry. An engaging and informative read.

Andrew Carnegie was a household name in our birthplace of Dunfermline and the city benefitted greatly from his generosity. This book reveals a new dimension to the story of how he made his fortune and later disbursed his wealth across the world . His was not an easy life and with the benefit of hindsight he made some big mistakes along the way but he did an enormous amount of good too

A real insight how someone so poor became so rich. It can be done!!!! A very informing story about the steel business which we mostly take for granted to-day. Kudos to those who made progress give us what we have to-day and also made them rich at the same time/ I loved this book, I have a very curious mind and books like this make for great reading. I think we should all read about what makes this world great to-day in advancement and the courage of those who had the initiative and the forbearance to do so. Well written and congratulations on the excellent research.

A very interesting tale of two men who undoubtedly changed the economic and industrial landscape of the U.S. Nobody could ever accuse Frick or Carnegie of being wonderful employers as the their main interest was cutting labour costs as much as possible. I knew very little about the rise of the steel industry in the U.S. so I really enjoyed learning about it.

Pleasant racy, journalistic style, worth the read. Carnegie rather the better of the 2 men, at least he wanted to atone for his riches by building libraries all over the place. Frick had few qualms about his ruthless business methods and the legacy he wished to leave was his collection of artworks. Motives and characters of these men quite vividly explored.

Frick is a new name and person revealed to me because of the book, and Carnegie is revealed as a human being with bi-polar tendencies(figuratively) when he can pretend caring for the thousands of employees within his steelmaking empire, able to salve his conscience by philanthropy - buying his way into heaven.