An American writer, lecturer, and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills, Dale Carnegie was born in 1888 in Maryville, Missouri. Public Speaking: a Practical Course for Business Men (1926) was the first collection of Carnegie’s writings. It was later entitled Public Speaking and Influencing Men in Business (1932). How to Win Friends & Influence People, when published by Simon & Schuster in 1936, became an instant bestseller and was Carnegie’s crowning achievement. Containing practical advice on how to create success in business and personal lives, this four-part book is a tool used in Dale Carnegie Training. Carnegie served in the U.S. Army during the First World War. In 1931, his first marriage ended in divorce and in 1944, he married Dorothy Price Vanderpool. Carnegie died in 1955 aged sixty-six at his home in Forest Hills, New York, and was buried at the cemetery in Belton, Cass County, Missouri.