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Mellon: An American Life [DECKLE EDGE] (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this volume, the first published "full-scale life" of financial pioneer Andrew Mellon-who would help propel the country to economic domination, serve as servant and scapegoat for powerful White House administrations, and establish the National Gallery of Art-biographer Cannadine (In Churchill's Shadow) tackles every aspect of a towering American figure who was nevertheless "shy in life and secretive in business." Beginning with the boyhood immigration to Pittsburgh of Mellon's domineering father, Cannadine chronicles the busy buildup of Mellon's early career, as he involves himself with his father's successful real estate projects and enters the world of Pittsburgh's wealthy industrial elite. His largely obstacle-free ascension, however, packs the book's first third with humdrum lists of business transactions. Tellingly, the chapter titled "The First Scandal" provides the book's first meaty narrative: the disastrous collapse of Mellon's mid-life marriage to the young Englishwoman Nora McMullen. Following this, Mellon becomes a more dynamic character and his money takes a more secondary role. Mellon's contentious stint as Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Harding, Coolidge and Hoover provides interesting insight into the clash of democracy (which Mellon was never such a fan of) and high finance; it also provides Mellon a telling conflict between his responsibility to the country's failing post-war economy and his desire to re-engage his estranged daughter Ailsa. Cannadine does not shy from pointing out the hypocrisy and insensitivity in his subject-especially in his devastating behavior toward his unfaithful wife-but remains sympathetic throughout, providing a balanced look at a supremely principled businessman who made some startlingly unprincipled choices. Though a scholarly work with limited popular appeal, this is a valuable, comprehensive look at an important American life.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* This is the first comprehensive biography of Andrew Mellon, the powerful American financier, secretary of the treasury, and art collector. Like Rockefeller and Carnegie, Mellon came to symbolize the era of the U.S. rise to industrial might, with all the benefits and abuses that entailed. Professor Cannadine brings compassion and fairness to his subject. At first glance, Mellon is neither an appealing nor an especially interesting character. Mellon's father, Thomas, had already made his fortune, so Andrew's story lacks the rags-to-riches aspect that made Andrew Carnegie such a compelling figure. In personal relations, Mellon was stiff, diffident, and self-absorbed. His only marriage ended disastrously, and his relations with his children were problematic. But, as Cannadine eloquently shows, Mellon was a true genius at the art of making money. He was a brilliant practitioner of and a true believer in -laissez-faire capitalism. As secretary of the treasury under Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover, he used his financial acumen to cut both taxes and the national debt. Although he came to philanthropy late in life, the donation of his private art collection and massive subsidizing of a museum to house it have greatly enriched the nation's cultural life. Despite Mellon's personal shortcomings, Cannadine's recounting of Mellon's public career make this a worthy contribution to our understanding of the man and his era. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

Hardcover: 800 pages
Publisher: Knopf; First Edition edition (October 3, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0679450327
ISBN-13: 978-0679450320
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 2 inches
Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #58,209 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
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Customer Reviews

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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holds Our Interest to the Very End, January 8, 2007

By	JAD (The Sunshine State) - See all my reviews

As I was nearing the end of this large and thorough biography of one of America's most prominent plutocrats, I was rooting for nonagenarian Andrew Mellon to live a few more years--just long enough to see the completion of his marvelous dream project and generous gift to the nation, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Sadly, Mellon did not live to see it completed, but this biographer holds our interest to the very end, in a book that comprises 620 pages of narrative and many more of notes and which took the author more than a decade to research and write.

Having previously read both father Judge Thomas' and son Paul's autobiographies (both well worth your time and attention), and having lived in and around Andrew's milieu for many years, I knew the basic outlines of Mellon's life. The Scots-Irish Presbyterian boyhood growing up in what had been the Negley estate, the partnership with his father in Judge Thomas' investment forays, the lifelong friendship with business demagogue H C Frick, the late and ill-fated marriage to Englishwoman Nora McMullen, and the undemonstrative relationship with his children, not to mention the mature years during which Mellon's fortune burgeoned and consequently, his reshaping of the Pittsburgh urban scene. Anyone who has lived and worked within an hour's radius of "The Cathedral of Earning" as Mellon Bank's 1920s building on Mellon Square is still nicknamed, has heard the stories of Andrew's doings and indeed they still impact the social and business scene of Pittsburgh. However, Cannadine fleshes out the outline in so thorough a fashion that we do get a sense of the man who was lucky in business and unlucky in love, and who compensated for his disappointments in flesh and blood relationships by surrounding himself with portraits of beautiful but silent Englishwomen and amassed one of the world's greatest art collections.

This biography was commissioned by Paul Mellon--with the goal of there being as complete and well researched a record of his father's life as possible. Cannadine, who is an acclaimed and prizewinning author, accepted the task with the caveat that he would draw his own conclusions and these were not subject to censure or review by Paul Mellon. So, we find this work as the end result of his Herculean labors.

After spending 12 years with his subject, Cannadine, whose social and political orientation is not the same as Mellon or his family's circle, confesses that he has come to admire the man and his accomplishments even where he disagrees with Mellon's choices and convictions. Cannadine also makes it clear that Mellon was so private a man that at the end of the day it is hard to grasp some of the secrets of his persona. Certainly one of more interesting discoveries, and I would suspect one of the more frustrating unsolved aspects of Mellon's private life, is the question of who or what was "M___", the oft noted appointment in Mellon's diary during the years 1912-1917. It is unlikely that this tantalizing mystery will be solved, considering that after twelve years of sleuthing, it eluded Cannadine.

The biography contained a few disappointments for this reviewer, who admits a thoroughgoing interest in the events of late May 1889 in the life of Andrew Mellon and his sixty-odd fellow members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Why, after all the research, does Cannadine choose not to include the reaction of the big bosses of Pittsburgh to the Johnstown Flood--Mellon included. That is, the clandestine meeting at which they formed "The Pittsburgh Relief Committee" and publicly pledged financial support for the relief of the disaster, at the very same meeting also pledging a code of silence about their immediately-abandoned Club as the chief cause of the deluge. This is a silence that has been kept by the Club's members and their descendents to this day. One would have to read David McCullough's account of the Johnstown Flood to get even a whisper of the backroom secret maneuverings of the lawyers (and fellow Club members) Knox and Reed, who successfully defended the Club's members against the very few attempts to hold them accountable for the failed earthen dam at their elite rustic retreat, which had contributed so directly to the death of more than 2000 Johnstown area residents.

Mellon, like Carnegie and Frick, and friends whose names are less well known, were part of the conspiracy of silence. A grandson of one of their fellow Club members has told me that the Johnstown Flood was never to be spoken of in their East End home, and that he did not know until his father had died and he was going through his father's papers that his grandfather had been a member of the infamous Club. Certainly Cannadine's research brought these and similar facts to light. One wonders why he censored himself in this key event in Mellon's life, especially so since most long-time Pittsburghers know the story, right down to the fact that Knox and Reed's firm is said to have "lost" an entire room's worth of files and records about the Flood and the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club when they moved premises in the early 1900s.

Someday, some biographer or historian will dare to tell the rest of the story, how the burden of silence dogged and haunted those sixty plus men and their families, men whose names are known to history for other reasons--Mellon, Frick and Carnegie, Leishman, Pitcairn, Phipps, Phillips, Horne and Knox, for the remainder of their lives. Some may think, "Why dredge it up; that was all in the past." However, the Flood was America's greatest one day non-wartime loss of life on our shores until 9-11. The Founder's Room at the exclusive Duquesne Club still sports the solemn portraits of some of the SFF&CH members as silent testimony that these larger than life figures are still with us, casting long shadows.

Moreover the case can be made that such benefactions as the National Gallery of Art, the Frick Collection, the Carnegie Foundation, Phipps Conservatory and the Phillips Collection are in some ways offerings of absolution of these millionaires, most of whom were staunch members of prominent Pittsburgh congregations, for their part in the tragedy. But Cannadine chooses not to make this case.

Also, I was sorry that I had to go back and reread the passages in Paul Mellon's very enjoyable autobiography in order to remind myself of details of his mother's relationship with Alfred Curphey including the packet of letters that were given to Paul and caused his mother Nora such tremendous alarm--as well as the conclusion that Paul drew about himself vis a vis the timing of Nora and Curphey's liaisons. One would have thought Cannadine would have dealt somehow with this personal matter, in the pages of his life of Andrew.

There are many fine illustrations, especially those relating to the account of Mellon's accumulation of the wonderful art collection; even so, one might argue that a format more akin to Martha Sanger's book on H C Frick, and a consequent inclusion of more of Andrew's old masters, would have improved this biography.

These having been said, this is a book well worth the time and attention of anyone who wishes to know more about Andrew Mellon.

If you find this review helpful you may wish to read my other reviews of similar works: Henry Clay Frick: An Intimate Portrait, Andrew Carnegie, Johnstown Flood. Don't miss my reviews of Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Transformed America, The Miss Stone Affair: America's First Modern Hostage Crisis and the insightful but incomplete After the Ball: Gilded Age Secrets, Boardroom Betrayals, and the Party That Ignited the Great Wall Street Scandal of 1905.

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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Differennt Review, January 12, 2007

By	James H. McCauley (Canberra,Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I heard David Cannadine talk on"Biography"here in Canberra some months ago and describe his monumental research on Andrew Mellon.I knew nothing of Andrew Mellon except that his father and grandfather had emigrated from my home town in Co. Tyrone,Northern Ireland, in the early 19th century.Then I read Russell Baker's review and decided that I must read the biography and Amazon obliged.
It was entrancing from start to finish and I learned hugely of the Mellons and the history of Pittsburg and the industrial and economic rise of the U.S.
David Cannadine is to be congratulated on making such an astonishing amount of detail so easy to read, and keep ones interest to the final page.

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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Andrew Mellon Finally Gets His Due, November 6, 2006

By	Ronald H. Clark (WASHINGTON, DC USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

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A continual flow of books appears on Carnegie, Rockefeller, Frick, J.P. Morgan and others of the "gilded age" zillionaires who benefitted from the post-civil war industrialization of the U.S. But until now, Andrew Mellon (1855-1937) has lacked a substantial biography. David Cannadine, one of Britain's leading historians (who has taught here at Columbia and Princeton as well), has remedied this deficiency in this superb biography. It is a long book to be sure, 617 pages not counting notes; I always feel books of this dimension could benefit from more stringent editing. In its defense, it can be said to be authoritative and comprehensive.

Mellon is largely a forgotten figure today, even for those of us who live in Washington and benefit from the National Gallery of Art and the National Portrait Gallery, and are aware of his service during three administrations (Harding, Coolidge, Hoover) as Secretary of the Treasury. Cannadine covers all aspects of Mellon's very diverse life and interests. He devotes limited attention to Mellon's parentage, although his father, Thomas Mellon, is quite an interesting figure in his own right. Much of the book is devoted to a solid business history of Mellon's activities--Alcoa, Gulf Oil, Mellon banks, etc. This affords us with an excellent resource for understanding this period in American history when these financial giants exercised such influence (Morgan stopping the panic of 1907, for example). Next, the book contains an excellent political history of the period, particularly 1920-1937, which witnesses the loss of GOP control and the shift to the New Deal. The third major dimension of the book is Mellon's art collecting and his plans for the creation of the National Gallery, and so we come to understand the reasons why so many of these financial giants ended up donating much of their money to build art museums, libraries, and other philanthropic endeavors. Finally, we learn about Mellon the man, a very private fellow who was capable of negotiating the donation of his extensive art collection to the very same United States that was trying him for tax fraud. Mellon's children in the late 1960's financed the construction of the National Gallery's East Building, and contributed much of the art which reposes there. Quite an interesting family.

Cannadine was invited to undertake this 12 year project by Andrew's late son, Paul Mellon, a well-known cultural figure here in the nation's capitol. But this certainly is not an "authorized biography" which seeks to nominate its subject for sainthood. One of the most valuable sections of the book is "The Balance Sheet" section of the final chapter where Cannadine offers a very balanced but incisive summing up of Mellon and his life. Supported by 100 pages of notes, as well as photographs, color reproductions of some key Mellon art, and tables, this is clearly the work of a professional historian at the peak of his considerable powers. Mellon probably deserves nothing less.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars MELLON
Cannadine's biography of Mellon is a masterpiece. The author diligently deconstructs the demonization of Andrew Mellon, effectively offering a very human characterization of a... Read more

Published 22 days ago by S. Welby

5.0 out of 5 stars The Iceman
Andrew Mellon is a man whose life and legacy has cast such a major shadow over post-depression America, that it continues to accrue, like small interest reinvestment to this day... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Scott A. Kallick

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT biography of Andrew Mellon
It took me a while to read but I was sad when it ended.
I came upon this book one day and saw the reviews and
decided I needed to read about this man. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Sandy M. Mehring

5.0 out of 5 stars Mellon
It is a complete history of the Mellon family from their immigration from Ulster in 1815 to the death of Andrew Mellon. Read more

Published 13 months ago by Ritch Mccutchen

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the best biography I've ever read.
This beautifully written and fascinating portrait of Andrew Mellon is the single most compelling biography I can ever remember reading, as well as the most interesting history... Read more

Published 14 months ago by W. Mate

5.0 out of 5 stars A biography that goes above and beyond.
Cannadine exceeded expectations on a number of fronts with this definitive biography of Andrew Mellon. Read more

Published 19 months ago by M. Strong

4.0 out of 5 stars history and sadness
What I found interesting about this book is that is a history lesson in American business and early regulatory policies that shaped the landscape we see today. Read more

Published 19 months ago by Cameron

5.0 out of 5 stars AN EXCELLENT AND COMPREHENSIVE WORK
Though I can not claim to be altogether objective about the subject matter in much of this great book, I must congratulate Cannadine for a masterful study of what has been an... Read more

Published 21 months ago by a reader in the U.S.

5.0 out of 5 stars EXcellent read but long
If you like history you'll love this book, it's long and "gets long winded in history" but try stop reading I couldn't, if your over 55 you will really love it. Read more

Published 23 months ago by T. Smallwood

5.0 out of 5 stars Superbly documented life of a tycoon
You will savor this account of the tumultuous life of Andrew Mellon, an arrogant turn-of-the-last-century industrialist and millionaire. Read more

Published on November 13, 2007 by Rolf Dobelli

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