Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think

by Peter H. Diamandis

The robber barons were transformative. In less than seventy years, they turned America from an agricultural nation into an industrial powerhouse. What John D. Rockefeller did for oil, Andrew Carnegie did for iron and steel, Cornelius Vanderbilt did for railroads, James B. Duke for tobacco, Richard Sears for mail-order retailing, and Henry Ford for automobiles. There were dozens more. And while robber baron rapaciousness has received much attention, contemporary historians are in agreement: it was also these gilded age magnates who invented modern philanthropy. Certainly scholars have gone back and forth about most things robber baron, including the nature of their charity. Not long ago, BusinessWeek wrote: “John D. Rockefeller became a major donor—but only after a public relations expert, Ivy Lee, told him that donations could help salvage a damaged Rockefeller image.” Great-great grandson Justin Rockefeller, an entrepreneur and political activist, disagrees: “John Davison Sr., a devout Baptist, started tithing from his very first paycheck. He kept meticulous financial records. His first year in business was 1855. His income was $45, 10 percent of which he gave to the church.” Either way, that $5.00 donation was only the beginning. In 1910 Rockefeller took $50 million worth of Standard oil stock to create the foundation bearing his name. By the time of his death in 1937, half of his fortune had been given away. Carnegie, though, was an even bigger donor, and it’s to Carneg...