b'THE CARNEGIE CLUBM I G H T I E R T H A N2 1 T H E S W O R DAuthor and journalist Robert Ryan reflects on the significant role of literature in the outstanding achievements and enduring legacy of Andrew CarnegieLuntil I was old enough to realise it was a name that appeared in many ike many writers, I owe a debt of gratitude to Andrew Carnegie, although in my case it was some years beforeplaces and contexts: Carnegie. The philanthropy of Andrew Carnegie I appreciated just what the industrialist had done for me.is well known: how the richest man in the world tried, without When I was 13 or 14, growing up in Liverpool, I discovered books.success, to give away all his fortune but who nevertheless left a lasting I consumed them voraciously, often at the rate of one a day. If I waslegacy through various trusts, charities and endowments. What is less that age today, I would probably be immersed in Minecraft or Fortnite,appreciated, however, is the importance of literature in his life. As but back then it was the printed page that entranced me and, unablemuch as a businessman, he wanted to be a successful writer. And he to afford to buy even paperbacks given my voraciousness, lendingwas. He produced travelogues (including the splendidly titled An libraries became my lifeline.American Four-In-Hand in Britain), advice books (The Secret of However, I soon out-grew my local library, a rather prefabricatedBusiness is the Management of Men), political tracts (Triumphant structure, and instead started frequenting the much grander (vintageDemocracy) and, posthumously, his autobiography. His writing Raw Pixel1905) and better stocked one in Lister Drive. If I even noticed whatappeared in fashionable magazines, including the Fortnightly Review, was written above the grand entrance, I gave it no thought probablywhich had been founded by Anthony Trollope, and Pall Mall Gazette.'