Brief Biographies of our Key Authors

James Allen was forced by financial pressures to leave school at the age of fifteen. He spent the bulk of his life as an administrative assistant in several British manufacturing companies. In 1902, nine years before his death, he retired to a life of meditation and writing. Allen’s As a Man Thinketh (here renamed: As You Think) was Allen's second and most popular book. Allen continuously affirms that we have the power to form our own character; and thereby, to create the quality of our own lives. Thought and character are one. Allen’s writings show us both sides of a single coin: We are where we are today because of what we thought in our yesterdays. Likewise, our thoughts today shape our tomorrows. The point of Allen’s work is to show us how to manifest our dreams.

Genevieve Behrend was Thomas Troward’s only personal student. For two years Genevieve Behrend dedicated her life exclusively to the study of Troward’s teaching. Thereafter she started and ran The School of the Builders in New York City. She then spent 35 years teaching and practicing Troward’s "Mental Science.” Your Invisible Power was her first and most popular book. What is more, ever since the first edition, this key book has gone through many editions as one of the world's best sellers on Mental Science. Behrend is widely acknowledged for presenting Troward’s science in the clearest most practical and practicable manner. Her book teaches the life transforming power of visualization and other processes taught by Troward.

Henry Drummond was a professor, a scientist, and a theologian. He was most influenced by Ruskin and by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson’s work was the primary enduring influence. Drummond traveled the world and he was highly regarded for his work during his lifetime and to the present day. He was a key influence on Ralph Waldo Trine.

Charles Fillmore, and his wife, Myrtle, founded the Unity Church of Christianity and a publishing company. Unity Village, a 1300 acre community at Lee’s Summit, Missouri is now the world headquarters of the international Unity communion of churches. Fillmore wrote many books and pamphlets and initiated a radio program as well.

Charles F. Haanel, a self-made success, owned several major companies. He was president of the Continental Commercial Company, the Sacramento Valley Improvement Company, and the Mexico Gold & Silver Mining Company. Haanel was also a member of the American Scientific League, the Author’s League of America, the American Society of Psychical Research, the St. Louis Humane Society, and the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce. Haanel put into the Master Key System the ideas and methods he used to achieve success. It is claimed that the study of Haanel’s book is what enabled virtually everyone in Silicon Valley to make their fortunes. Napoleon Hill wrote in a letter to Haanel in 1919 that “My present success and the success which has followed my work as President of the Napoleon Hill Institute is due largely to the principles laid down in The Master-Key System.”

Napoleon Hill was born in poverty in a two-room cabin. When he was 10 years old his mother died. As a young man, Hill became a journalist. During an interview with Andrew Carnegie, Carnegie invited Hill to meet and interview over 500 millionaires to find, and articulate, a success formula that anyone could use. Hill accepted. Among those Hill met and interviewed were Alexander Graham Bell, William Jennings Bryan, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Elmer Gates, John D. Rockefeller, Theodore Roosevelt, Charles M. Schwab, William H. Taft, Woodrow Wilson, F. W. Woolworth, and William Wrigley Jr. Hill committed over 20 years of his life to this project. His book, Think and Grow Rich, is a condensation of his 16 volume treatise, The Law of Success. His book is the all-time best seller and cornerstone of the philosophy of success. Hill was awarded an honorary doctor of literature degree (Litt. D.) by Pacific International University. The Litt.D. is awarded for original work of special excellence in linguistics, literature, philosophy, and a few other areas.

Ernest Holmes is well known as the founder of the International Religious Science movement, as the author of the book, The Science of Mind, and for launching the international Science of Mind magazine. His magazine has been in nonstop publication since 1927. Holmes left school at the age of 18. Shortly after leaving school, Holmes discovered the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He once said: "Reading Emerson is like drinking water to me." Not long afterward, he discovered the work of both Christian D. Larson and Ralph Waldo Trine. Then, at the age of 25, he discovered the writings of Thomas Troward. The rest, as is often said, is history!

Christian D. Larson was a prolific writer. He believed that we all have substantial intrinsic powers that we can recognize and learn how to use to bring all good into our lives. Along with Ralph Waldo Trine's In Tune with the Infinite, Larson's The Ideal Made Real was a key influence on Ernest Holmes. Larson wrote the Optimists Creed in 1912. Optimist International adopted Larson’s creed. Larson was also an associate editor and a writer for Ernest Holmes' magazine Science of Mind.

Mildred Mann (1904-1971) founded The Society of Pragmatic Mysticism. The Society is dedicated to the "Practice of the Presence of God in the Every Day World." Her work is very well respected for its clarity and practicality. She committed her life to teaching and was widely celebrated for the quality of her work.

Ralph Waldo Trine’s In Tune with the Infinite is recommended by no less a figure than the billionaire philanthropist Sir John Marks Templeton. Many believe that Trine’s book is one of the direct inspirations for both Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich and Norman Vincent Peal’s The Power of Positive Thinking. Trine was educated at Carthage College Academy, Knox College. He also studied history and political science at the University of Wisconsin, and later at John Hopkins University. After his formal studies he became a special correspondent for The Boston Daily Evening Transcript. He was influenced by the writings of the German philosopher Fitche (also spelled “Fichte”), by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and by Henry Drummond. Trine’s basic message is that if we will recognize the power of our thoughts and harmonize our will with the Divine Will, we will attract to ourselves the fullness of life, joy, love, abundance, health, wisdom, and peace.

Thomas Troward, a Divisional Judge at Punjab, received many honors in his lifetime. Among other honors, Troward was an honorary member of the Medico-Legal Society of New York, and first Vice-President of the International New Thought Alliance. He lived in India for many decades and became very well known as an expert in religions. Judge Troward was also renowned for his acute legal mind. We would bring to the reader’s attention that no less a figure than the great American philosopher William James wrote that he personally found Troward’s writings to be “far and away the ablest statement of philosophy I have met, beautiful in its sustained clearness of thought and style, a really classic statement.”

Wallace D. Wattles is best known for his prosperity classic, The Science of Getting Rich. Wattles studied the world religions and philosophies. Among others, he studied the writings of Leibnitz, Hegel, Descartes, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Swedenborg, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He wrote to articulate the principles he gleaned from his studies and that he had put into practice in his own life. His daughter Florence wrote, "He wrote almost constantly. It was then that he formed his mental picture. He saw himself as a successful writer, a personality of power, an advancing man, and he began to work toward the realization of this vision. He lived every page ... His life was truly the powerful life.