George Santos and the great American tradition of "self-making"

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2023

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

New York Congressman George Santos has been embroiled in controversy since the day he stepped into office in November. The New York Times and other publications have reported that much of the Republican lawmaker's alleged resume – from where he went to college to his supposed time at Goldman Sachs – cannot be backed up with evidence. In this episode, rather than dig into what is true or false, host Brittany Luse asks why someone would embellish their resume in the first place. Author Tara Isabella Burton says it all goes back to the uniquely American obsession with being "self-made."

Burton's book, Self-Made: Curating our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians is available for pre-order here.

You can follow us on Twitter @ItsBeenAMin or email us at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, hey, you're listening to It's Been a Minute From NPR.
0:07.0	I'm Britney Loose and I don't know about you, but I have been living for the drama.
0:13.2	The drama I'm talking about, of course, is the ongoing revelation surrounding New York
0:17.8	Congressman George Santos.
0:20.2	Just to give you a little backstory here, Santos was elected back in November.
0:24.2	And days after he won, the New York Times dropped a bomb of a story revealing that a lot of
0:29.0	Santos's purported biography can't be backed up by evidence.
0:33.2	From his family history to his alleged time as an investor at Goldman Sachs, there are
0:38.1	no records.
0:39.1	I repeat, there are no records.
0:43.0	Make of that what you will.
0:45.4	But today we're not digging into the validity of his claims.
0:48.8	We're asking why Representative Santos might embellish his resume in the first place.
0:53.2	And it all goes back to the great American tradition of being, quote, self-made.
0:59.0	My guest today, Tara Burton is an expert on self-making.
1:02.8	Her forthcoming book is literally titled, Self Made, Creating Our Identities from DaVinci
1:08.0	to the Kardashians.
1:09.6	And she took a break from writing to apply her research to George Santos.
1:13.5	I've actually been offline for the past couple of weeks finishing a novel with no internet.
1:18.8	So I caught up fast.
1:20.9	Normally I have my like, trickle of news.
1:24.2	Whereas I just went online and went, oh, God, I missed.
	...

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