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Podcast: New Books in Popular Culture
Episode: Beth Blum on Self-Help, Dale Carnegie to Today (JP)
Description: Beth Blum, Assistant Professor of English at Harvard, is the author of The Self-Help Compulsion (Columbia University Press 2019). In 2020, she spoke with John about how self-help went from its Victorian roots (worship greatness!) to the ingratiating unctuous style prescribed by the other-directed Dale Carnegie (everyone loves the sound of their own name) before arriving at the âneo-stoicalâ self-help gurus of today, who preach male and female versions of âstop apologizing!â Youâll laugh, youâll cry, youâll either help yourself or learn how to stop caring.Mentioned
Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936)
Rache...