Round the World

One must traverse the ball round and round to arrive at a broad, liberal, correct estimate of humanity-its work, its aims, its destiny. Go, therefore, my friends-all you who are so situated as to be able to avail yourselves of this privilege-go and see for yourselves how greatly we are bound by prejudices...-from Round the WorldWhat a joy! As an adventurous travelogue, it is delightfully entertaining; as a journal of the development of the progressive philosophy of one of America's greatest philanthropists, it is stunning in its insights and its outlook. In October 1878, Andrew Carnegie and his friend John Vandervort set off on a mad cross-continental dash by train from New York to San Francisco to catch a ship sailing to Japan; by the time they ended their voyages around the globe with an uneventful sail home from London in May 1879, Carnegie-as both a businessman and a social benefactor -had been profoundly influenced by the cultures he'd explored and peoples he'd met. Originally intended for private circulation and later published in 1884, this is an intimate and provocative work of tremendous historical and cultural value.Also available from Cosimo Classics: Carnegie's Triumphant Democracy, An American Four-in-Hand in Britain, and Autobiography.Entrepreneur and philanthropist ANDREW CARNEGIE (1835-1919) was born in Scotland and emigrated to America as a teenager. His Carnegie Steel Company launched the steel industry in Pittsburgh, and after its sale to J.P. Morgan, he devoted his life to philanthropic causes. His charitable organizations built more than 2,500 public libraries around the world, and gave away more than $350 million during his lifetime.