Peter Cooper

Raymond, Rossiter W. (Rossiter Worthington), 1840-Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 118K words
Chapters: 12

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Peter Cooper by Rossiter W. RaymondAuthor: Raymond, Rossiter W. (Rossiter Worthington), 1840-1918,Language: English, Class: HV: Social sciences: Social pathology, Social and Public Welfare, Release Date: Aug 31, 2008

Editor's review

This book is a biography of the nineteenth-century industrialist Peter Cooper, in which the author Rossiter W. Raymond, writing as a contemporary and eyewitness, traces Cooper's course from blacksmith's apprentice to industrialist, inventor, and philanthropist. It records not only his commercial and mechanical achievements but also his commitment to labor education and public causes, and may be read as an individual cross-section of America's early industrial age. The prose carries the solemnity and moralizing tone of nineteenth-century biography, emphasizing character and deeds rather than modern psychological portraiture. For readers concerned with industrial history, technological history, or philanthropic traditions, the book offers a firsthand character sketch; general readers may use one man's experience to observe the professional ethics and social manners of an era. Read it as a documentary biography, noting the author's value judgments and period limitations.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in nineteenth-century American industrial and invention history
Humanities scholars studying philanthropy and labor education traditions
Historical readers who enjoy nineteenth-century biographical style

Not a good fit for

General biography readers expecting modern narrative pace and psychological depth
Technical historians needing systematic technical details or data charts

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and chapter headings first to grasp the main stages of Cooper's life before reading through.
Mark the author's evaluative statements as you read, distinguishing factual narration from moral judgment.
Read alongside general histories of the American Industrial Revolution to fill in the period background.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book an autobiography written by Peter Cooper himself?

No. It is written by Rossiter W. Raymond and is a biography about Peter Cooper, not Cooper's own account. It traces Cooper's life and career in the third person, carrying the author's own observations and evaluations.

What background knowledge is needed to read this book?

A rough outline of nineteenth-century American industrial development will make it smoother, but is not required. The book touches on iron manufacturing, railways, and educational philanthropy; readers may first learn the basic contours of the Industrial Revolution and then understand the biography within its period context.

Is this book suitable as an academic citation source?

It may serve as a reference for early biographical source material, but attention must be paid to its date of composition and the author's standpoint. Specific historical facts should be checked against other independent sources, and the book's evaluative statements should not be taken directly as settled conclusions.

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About the author

Raymond, Rossiter W. (Rossiter Worthington), 1840- Author · American · 1840–1918

Rossiter W. Raymond (1840–1918) was an American mining engineer and expert in mining statistics who served as United States Commissioner of Mining Statistics. He worked for many years in the practical and statistical side of mining and wrote several works on mining, leaving behind results in the organization of industry data and the summary of practical experience. His representative work is Peter Cooper, a biographical study showing the life of an entrepreneur and public figure. Overall, his writing leans toward professional records and biography and is aimed at readers interested in mining and in individual lives. Public information is currently limited, and there is little systematic scholarly study of his detailed life and works, yet his writings as a mining statistician and engineer can still serve as a reference for understanding nineteenth-century American mining and biographical writing.