Cover of Kane & Abel

Book Highlights

Kane & Abel

by Jeffrey Archer

What it's about

Two men born on the same day in 1906 take vastly different paths to success. William Lowell Kane is an affluent Boston Brahmin, while Wladek Rosnovski is a Polish immigrant who survives war and labor camps to build a hotel empire in America. Their lives collide in a decades-long vendetta that tests their character, obsession, and resolve.

Key ideas

  • The immigrant hustle: Success is possible for anyone who arrives with nothing, provided they possess the grit to outwork everyone else.
  • Financial discipline: Building wealth requires strict accounting, calculated investment, and the ability to make large expenses appear trivial.
  • The weight of obsession: Holding onto past grievances eventually becomes a destructive force that blinds men to their own best interests.
  • Strategic positioning: Success in business often comes down to fundamental factors like location and the ability to read your opponent’s next move.

You'll love this book if...

  • You enjoy sprawling, multi-generational epics that track characters over their entire lifetimes.
  • You are looking for a fast-paced story about the rivalry between two titans of industry.
  • You appreciate character-driven plots where personal pride dictates major business decisions.

Best for

Readers who enjoy classic, high-stakes dramas about the relentless pursuit of power and the cost of success.

Books with the same vibe

  • The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
  • The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  • The Godfather by Mario Puzo

29 popular highlights from this book

Key Insights & Memorable Quotes

The most popular highlights from Kane & Abel, saved by readers on Screvi.

Fortune favours the brave
If you have to pay a bill, always make it look as if the amount is of no consequence.
Only three things mattered about a hotel: position, position and position.
Then one morning she woke to find him sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at her. She blinked at him. ‘Is something wrong, darling?’ ‘No. I’m just looking at my greatest asset, and making sure I never take it for granted.
Never seek the wind in the field—it is useless to try and find what is gone.” Your
The grandmothers decided on William’s eighth birthday that the time had come for the boy to learn the value of money. With this in mind, they allocated him one dollar a week as pocket money, but insisted that he keep an inventory accounting for every cent he spent. Grandmother Kane presented him with a green leather-bound ledger, at a cost of 95 cents, which she deducted from his first week’s allowance. From then on the grandmothers divided the dollar up every Saturday morning. William could invest 50 cents, spend 20 cents, give 10 cents to charity and keep 20 cents in reserve. At the end of each quarter they would inspect the ledger and his written report on any unusual transactions.
Never seek the wind in the field—it is useless to try and find what is gone.
Don't ever make the mistake most New Yorkers do, of underestimating Chicago. They think it's only a postage stamp on a very large envelope, and they're the envelope.
ഒരിക്കലും വയലില്‍ കാറ്റ് നോക്കരുത് പോയിക്കഴിഞ്ഞതിനെ കണ്ടെത്താന്‍ ശ്രമിക്കുന്നത് പ്രയോജനമില്ലാത്തതാണ്.
Steve mellon had told him that love was for poor suckers, and Richard had written on his steamed-up shaving mirror that morning, 'I must be penniless.
off the hook,
my greatest asset, and making sure I never take it for
ഒരിക്കലുമില്ല എന്ന് പറയുന്ന രാഷ്ട്രീയക്കാരനെ ഒരിക്കലും വിശ്വസിക്കരുത്,
All seemed to be in order. The boy had two legs, two arms, ten fingers, ten toes. Richard
said Florentyna.
to be in the middle distance, and he was not perceptibly
her by something that looked like rope. The young hunter dropped his freshly
diffident
I was born near Slonim. I saw my home taken over by the Germans, my sister raped by the Russians and later I escaped from a Russian labour camp and was lucky enough to reach America. I'm not mad. This is the only country in the world where you can arrive with nothing and become a millionaire though damned hard work regardless of your background.
Well done, Anne,’ she said, as if her daughter-in-law had won a minor rosette at a regatta. ‘All of us are so very proud of you.
മറ്റുള്ളവര്‍ ഉറങ്ങുമ്പോള്‍ നമ്മള്‍ ലോകത്തിനെ മാറ്റാന്‍ ശ്രമിക്കണം.
heard that voice many times in the last
Sao không ai bảo cha còn có những thứ quan trọng hơn lòng tự trọng?
SHE ONLY stopped screaming when she died. It was then that he started to scream. The
caught
what Rosnovski’s next move would be.
smaller
William:
know when to make an exception,

Find Another Book

Search by title or author to explore highlights from other books.

Try it with your highlights

Create your account, add your highlights and see how Screvi can change the way you read.

Get Started for Free(No credit card required)