We use cookies and other tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience. If you continue to use our site, you agree to the use of such cookies. For more info, see our privacy policy.
Skip to main content

Hi. We love you. Be our Life Partner.

Support the show to get ad-free listening, bonus content, and our new Greatest Hits Archive.

Learn more
This American Life Partners logo
00:00
00:00
  • Transcript
  • Share
This American Life
  • Life Partners
  • How to Listen
  • Episodes
  • Recommended
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Announcements
    • Fellowships
    • Jobs
    • Music
    • Make Radio
    • On The Road
    • FAQ
    • Submissions
    • Merch
    • Contact Us
    • Our Other Shows
  • Merch
  • Follow Us
  • Life Partners
198
November 2, 2001

How to Win Friends and Influence People

People climbing to be number one. How do they do it? What is the fundamental difference between us and them?

  • Download
    Control-click (or right-click) Tap and hold to download
  • Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe in Apple Podcasts Subscribe
  • Transcript
A man and a woman seated in deck chairs read contrasting How To books

Frederic Hamilton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Prologue

Prologue

Ira Glass talks with Paul Feig, who, as a sixth-grader, read the Dale Carnegie classic How to Win Friends and Influence People at the urging of his father. He found that afterward, he had a bleaker understanding of human nature—and even fewer friends than when he started. (9 minutes)

By

Ira Glass
Act One

To Make a Friend, Be a Friend

David Sedaris has this instructive tale of how, as a boy, with the help of his dad, he tried to bridge the chasm that divides the popular kid from the unpopular — with the sorts of results that perhaps you might anticipate. (14 minutes)

By

David Sedaris
Act Two

Stay In Touch

After the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, U.S. diplomats had to start working the phones to assemble a coalition of nations to combat this new threat. Some of the calls, you get the feeling, were not the easiest to make. Writer and performer Tami Sagher imagines what those calls were like. (6 minutes)

By

Tami Sagher

Song:

“This Is The World Calling” by Bob Geldof
Act Three

People Like You If You Put a Lot of Time Into Your Appearance

To prove this simple point—a familiar one to readers of any women's magazines—we have this true story of moral instruction, told by Luke Burbank in Seattle, about a guy he met on a plane dressed in a hand-sewn Superman costume. (13 minutes)

By

Luke Burbank
Act Four

Just Be Yourself

Jonathan Goldstein with a story about what it's like to date Lois Lane when she's on the rebound from Superman. (13 minutes)

Jonathan Goldstein is the host of the podcast Heavyweight.

By

Jonathan Goldstein

Song:

“Mr. Pleasant” by The Kinks (radio only)

Related

If you enjoyed this episode, you may like these
268: My Experimental Phase
June 25, 2004

Act Two: Miami Vices

A nice Florida girl changes high schools and takes the opportunity to try on a new personality...the slutty kind.
139: Ghosts of Elections Past
Sept. 3, 1999

Act Four: Throwing Money At The Problem

A few years back Alex Kotlowitz wrote a book called There Are No Children Here, about two boys growing up in Chicago's Henry Horner public housing projects.
114: Last Words
Oct. 23, 1998

Act Five: Black Box

We go through transcripts from those black box flight recorders recovered from airplane crashes to see what people say.

Staff Recommendations

View all
75
Sept. 12, 1997

Kindness of Strangers

A locksmith tells the story of an act of kindness he committed, hoping for a small reward. That, and other stories of kindness in New York City.

732
Feb. 19, 2021

Secrets

Why we tell them, and what happens after we do.

This American Life

This American Life is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange.

  • How to Listen
  • Episodes
  • Recommended
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Announcements
    • Fellowships
    • Jobs
    • Music
    • Make Radio
    • On The Road
    • FAQ
    • Submissions
    • Merch
    • Contact Us
    • Our Other Shows
  • Merch
  • Contact
  • Life Partners
  • Serial
  • S-Town
© 1995 - 2025 This American Life Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Subscribe

  • on Spotify
  • in Apple Podcasts

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email