Traces the life of the brilliant and ruthless businessman who used leveraged buyouts, insider trading, stock manipulation, price fixing, and union busting to become one of the richest men in America Schreiner, a career journalist, former senior editor for Reader's Digest, and accomplished writer (Code of Conduct, LJ 12/91), presents the first full-length biography of the noted coal and steel magnate and art collector. How Frick parlayed modest investments into a vast fortune and shrewdly affiliated himself with Andrew Carnegie, the Mellons, and other powerful associates; capitalized his sharp investment in coke, turning it into an industry; and manipulated labor and wielded the power that came with his fortune-all this is carefully examined here in copious financial detail. Schreiner has done as much as possible with public records and resources in the face of the Frick family's reticence, leaving it for a future biographer to explain how and why Frick plowed his fortune into the creation of one of the world's great art collections. This is entertaining and informative reading for those concerned with the rise of the steel industry and the making of immodest fortunes during the Gilded Age. For public and academic libraries specializing in business and biography. Susan E. Parker, Harvard Law Sch. Lib. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Other than Henry Clay Frick: The Man , a laudatory reminiscence written by family friend Col. George Harvey in 1928, there has not until now been a full-length biography of Gilded Age philanthropist and industrialist Frick. As documented by Schreiner, this omission is due, in part, to the efforts of Frick's daughter, who fiercely tried to protect the family's reputation. Helen Clay Frick went so far as to sue to have four minor--if unflattering--references to her father deleted from a historical portrait of Pennsylvania published by Random House in 1964. Now Schreiner, a former senior editor for Reader's Digest and native Pittsburgher, critically details the achievements and exploitations of this man, who is best known for his art collection but who also brutally busted unions and was almost assassinated by the Russian anarchist lover of turn-of-the-century activist Emma Goldman. This well-told saga will fill a gap in business and history collections. David Rouse