Beth Blum on Self-Help, Dale Carnegie to Today (JP)
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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 “neo-stoical” self-help gurus of today, who preach male and female versions of “stop apologizing!” You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll either help yourself or learn how to stop caring.

Mentioned

• Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People) (1936)

• Rachel Hollis, Girl, Stop Apologizing) (2019)

• Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k) (2016)

• Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff….) (1997)

• Alain de Botton, How Proust Can Change Your Life) (2012)

New Thought) (philosophy? religious movement?)

- Samuel Smiles, Self-Help; with Illustrations of Character and Conduct )(1859)

• Orison Swett Marden, How to Succeed) (1896)

• David Riesman et al. The Lonely Crowd) (1950)

• Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living )(1945)

Helen Gurley Brown, *Having It All *)(1982)

• Micki McGee, Self-Help Inc.) (2007; concept of”self-belabourment”)

• Tiffany Dufu, Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less)

• Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing) (2019)

• Sarah Knight, The Life-Changing Magic Art of Not Giving a Fuck )(2015)

Recallable books

• Epictetus, *Handbook *)(125 C.E.)

• Sheil Heti, How Should a Person Be) (2012)

• Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments )(1759)

• Joseph Conrad Nostromo) (1904)

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38 Beth Blum on Self-Help from Carnegie to Today)

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