Born 1888 on a Missouri farm, one of four children in a poor family. Warrensburg State Teachers College, then a string of jobs — sales, a stint in Nebraska peddling bacon and soap, a failed attempt at acting — before he landed on the thing he was actually good at: teaching public speaking at the YMCA in New York City.
The classes became legendary. He wrote textbooks for them. In 1936, drawing on fifteen years of teaching and the stories his students told, he published How to Win Friends and Influence People. It has sold over thirty million copies and, nearly a century later, still sits on most lists of the most influential books of the twentieth century.
He died in 1955. The institute he founded continues to teach his method on six continents. Almost every communication-skills book written since owes him something.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
The founding text of interpersonal intelligence — 30 million copies sold, still the most useful book on human relations ever written.
The Art of Public Speaking
Carnegie's foundational course on confident, persuasive speaking — the techniques that built his legendary training empire. Co-authored with J. Berg Esenwein.