Book excerpt: This book features the life stories, told by themselves, of many successful men and women, with emphasis on those experiences which to them appear to have been the turning points in their lives. The leaders in invention, manufacture, transportation, commerce, finance, in political and public life, and in the professions of the ministry, the law, literature and art, were requested to bequeath in their own words the stories of their lives, their ideals, and the lessons of their experience, to the American public. Many and varied careers have been selected, so that each one may find his ideal of success fulfilled in real life, and be aroused to a lofty aspiration and resolute determination to achieve like eminence. While for the most part the experiences portrayed in this book occurred upon American soil, in several instances persons born or now living abroad, but prominently identified with American life, have been included. Contents: Hard Work, the Secret of a Great Inventor's Genius – Thomas Alva Edison A "Down-East" Yankee Who Dictates Peace to the Nations – Hiram Stevens Maxim A Poor Boy Who Once Borrowed Books Now Gives Away Libraries – Andrew Carnegie A Good Shoemaker Becomes Detroit's Best Mayor and Michigan's Greatest Governor – Hazen S. Pingree Determination Not to Remain Poor Made a Farmer Boy Merchant Prince – Marshall Field Honesty the Foundation of a Great Merchant's Career – John Wanamaker A British Boy Wins Fortune and Title by American Business Methods – Sir Thomas Lipton A Self-made Man Who Strives to Give Others a Chance – Darius Ogden Mills Thrift, the Secret of a Fortune Built in a Single Lifetime – Russell Sage Cut Out for a Banker, He Rose From Errand Boy to Secretary of the United States Treasury – Lyman Judson Gage A Young Millionaire Not Afraid to Work in Overalls – Cornelius Vanderbilt A Messenger Boy's Zeal Lifts Him to the Head of the World's Greatest Telegraph System – Robert C. Clowry…