About the Author
Dale Carnegie was born November 24, 1888 on a farm in Maryville, Missouri. He was the second son of impoverished farmers James William Carnagey (1852-1941) and his wife Amanda Elizabeth Harbison (1858-1939). Carnegie grew up around Bedison, Missouri southeast of Maryville and attended rural Rose Hill and Harmony one room schools. Carnegie would develop a longstanding friendship with another Maryville author, Homer Croy. In 1904, at age 16, his family moved to a farm in Warrensburg, Missouri. As a youth, he was unskilled athletically but enjoyed speaking in public and joined his schools debate team. Carnegie said he had to get up at 3 a.m. to feed the pigs and milk his parents’ cows before going to school. During high school, he grew interested in the speeches at the various Chautauqua assemblies. He completed his high school education in 1906.
