MELLON: AN AMERICAN LIFE
Book ID/图书代码： 11701208B22754
English Summary/英文概要： A 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, during which he learned from his Scotch-Irish immigrant father the lessons of self-sufficiency and accumulation of wealth, Andrew Mellon overcame painful shyness to become one of America’s greatest financiers. Across an unusually diverse range of enterprises, from banking to oil to aluminum manufacture, he would build a legendary personal fortune, tracking America’s course to global economic supremacy. Personal happiness, however, eluded him: his loveless marriage at forty-five to a British girl less than half his age ended in a scandalous divorce, and for all his best efforts, he would remain a stranger to his children. He had been bred to do one thing, and that he did with brilliant and innovative entrepreneurship. The Mellon way was to hold companies closely, including such iconic enterprises as Alcoa and Gulf Oil. Collecting art, a pursuit inspired by his close friend Henry Clay Frick, would become his only nonprofessional gratification. And by the end of his life, Mellon’s “pictures” would constitute one of the world’s foremost private collections.
Mellon’s wealth and name allowed him to dominate Pennsylvania politics, and late in life he was invited to Washington. As treasury secretary under presidents Harding, Coolidge, and finally Hoover, he made the federal government run like a business—prefiguring the public official as CEO. But this man of straightforward conservative politics was no politician. He would be hailed as the architect of the Roaring Twenties, but, staying too long, would be blamed for the Great Depression, eventually to find himself a broken idol. The New Deal overthrew Andrew Mellon’s every fiscal assumption, starting with the imperative of balanced budgets. Indeed, he would become the emblem—and the scapegoat—for the Republican conviction and policy that the role of government is to help business create national wealth and jobs. At the age of seventy-nine, the former treasury secretary suffered the ultimate humiliation: prosecution by FDR’s government on charges of tax evasion. In the end Mellon would be exonerated, as he always trusted he would be, and throughout the trial, which lasted more than a year, he never abandoned what had become his last dream: to make a great gift to the American people. The National Gallery of Art remains his most tangible legacy, although he did not live to see its completion.
The issues Andrew W. Mellon confronted—concerning government, business, influence, the individual and the public good—remain at the center of our national discourse to this day. Indeed, the positions he steadfastly held reemerged relatively intact with the Reagan revolution, having lain dormant since the New Deal. David Cannadine’s magisterial biography brings to life a towering, controversial figure, casting new light on our history and the evolution of our public values.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 作为19世纪的苏格兰-爱尔兰移民后裔，安德鲁·梅隆从父亲身上学到了自立和自强。他克服自身的羞怯，成为美国伟大的金融家、实业家。虽然他的商业帝国囊括了梅隆国民银行、海湾石油、美国铝业、匹兹堡煤矿、金刚砂公司、标准铁路机车公司、纽约造船公司等上百家大型企业，他的私人生活却不快乐。在45岁的时候，他迎娶了一个岁数是他几乎一半的英国女孩。12年后，这场婚姻走向了终结，给他留下了一双他挚爱的儿女。在朋友的鼓励下，收藏美术作品成为梅隆的另一个挚爱。他终成为世界上主要的私人美术收藏家之一。
梅隆的财富和名声促使华盛顿向他发出了邀请。作为哈定、柯立芝和胡佛三届政府的财政部长，他让整个美国像一家企业那样运营，联邦政府变成了这家企业的CEO。他大刀阔斧地削减税收，努力平衡政府预算，逐步恢复了国际债务体系和国际金融秩序，被公众誉为“继亚历山大·汉密尔顿后伟大的财政部长”。然而，这个率直的政治家不是一个政客。他在20世纪的喧嚣中被高高抛起，又因为大萧条备受指责，后发现自己成了一个破碎的幻象。正如自己坚信的那样，他后被证明无罪。尽管遭受折磨，梅隆没有放弃自己后的一个梦想：给美国人民送一份大礼，为此他拿出了自己毕生积累财富的一半，让美国国家美术馆成为他的真切遗赠。(DB)
Awards/获奖情况：坐标书架(共24册)， 这套丛书还有 《绩效之鹿》《低价不是法宝》《汽车和我》《家得宝传奇》《疯狂过山车》 等 。
About the Author/作者介绍： 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.
Format:照片
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
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