One simple idea: how positive thinking reshaped modern life (First Edition.)

From the millions-strong audiences of Oprah and The Secret to the mass-media ministries of evangelical figures like Joel Osteen and T.

D. Jakes, to the motivational bestsellers and New Age seminars to the twelve-step programs and support groups of the recovery movement and to the rise of positive psychology and stress-reduction therapies, this idea--to think positively--is metaphysics morphed into mass belief.

This is the biography of that belief. No one has yet written a serious and broad-ranging treatment and history of the positive-thinking movement.

Until now. For all its influence across popular culture, religion, politics, and medicine, this psycho-spiritual movement remains a maligned and misunderstood force in modern life.

Its roots are unseen and its long-range impact is unacknowledged.

It is often considered a cotton-candy theology for New Agers and self-help junkies.

In response, One Simple Idea corrects several historical misconceptions about the positive-thinking movement and introduces us to a number of colorful and dramatic personalities, including Napoleon Hill and Norman Vincent Peale, whose books and influence have touched the lives of tens of millions across the world.