Napoleon Hill — The Writer Behind Think and Grow Rich
Napoleon Hill — The Writer Behind Think and Grow Rich
Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) was an American author, journalist, lecturer, and writer on personal achievement and success. He became internationally known for Think and Grow Rich, published in 1937, but his literary career extended well beyond that single book. (Napoleon Hill)
Hill was born in Wise County, Virginia, and began working as a newspaper reporter as a teenager. His early journalism eventually led him toward interviewing prominent businesspeople and examining the principles that, in his view, contributed to achievement.
A central episode in Hill's own account of his career was his association with industrialist Andrew Carnegie. Hill said that Carnegie encouraged him to study successful people and identify principles that could be communicated to ordinary readers. According to Hill's official biography, this became a roughly 20-year research project involving interviews with more than 500 successful people. (Napoleon Hill)
That work eventually produced The Law of Success and, later, Think and Grow Rich.
The Major Bibliography
The Law of Success — 1928
This was Hill's first major success-oriented book. It presented 16 principles of achievement, based on the research he said he had undertaken into successful individuals. (Napoleon Hill)
It is important in understanding Hill because Think and Grow Rich did not appear out of nowhere. It represents a later, more compact expression of ideas developed in The Law of Success.
The Magic Ladder to Success — 1930
An early Hill work presenting his developing philosophy of achievement and personal advancement. The Napoleon Hill collection dates the work to 1930. (Napoleon Hill)
Think and Grow Rich — 1937
This is Hill's defining work.
Published in 1937, it distilled his philosophy into 13 principles, including:
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Desire
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Faith
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Autosuggestion
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Specialized Knowledge
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Imagination
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Organized Planning
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Decision
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Persistence
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The Master Mind
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Sex Transmutation
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The Subconscious Mind
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The Sixth Sense
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Overcoming Fear
The book is particularly interesting historically because it sits at the intersection of self-help, motivational literature, entrepreneurship, psychology-as-popularized, and spiritual/metaphysical thought.
It is also worth separating Hill's philosophical claims from modern scientific evidence. Concepts such as visualization, goal-setting and persistence can be studied empirically, but claims sometimes associated with Think and Grow Rich—particularly the broader law of attraction—are not equivalent to established scientific laws. Even Hill's contemporary official site acknowledges that the scientific validity of the law of attraction is debated. (Napoleon Hill)
How to Sell Your Way Through Life — 1939
Hill turned his attention toward salesmanship, persuasion, communication and interpersonal relationships. (Napoleon Hill)
The Master-Key to Riches — 1945
A further development of Hill's philosophy concerning achievement, prosperity and personal principles. (Napoleon Hill)
How to Raise Your Own Salary — 1953
A practical work centered on professional advancement, earning capacity and the attitudes and behaviors Hill associated with career progress. (Napoleon Hill)
Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude — 1960
Written with W. Clement Stone, this became another major title in the personal-development canon.
The book shifted Hill's ideas toward the explicit concept of a positive mental attitude, combining his philosophy with Stone's practical business perspective. (Napoleon Hill)
Grow Rich! With Peace of Mind — 1967
Hill connected material prosperity with peace of mind, reflecting a recurring tension in his work: wealth was not supposed to be treated as the sole measure of a successful life. (Napoleon Hill)
Posthumous Works
Hill died in 1970, but additional works were subsequently published or assembled from his writings.
You Can Work Your Own Miracles — 1971
Published after his death, this book continued Hill's exploration of personal power, belief, determination and the individual's ability to influence the course of his or her life. (Napoleon Hill)
Outwitting the Devil
This is one of the more unusual items in Hill's bibliography.
Hill wrote Outwitting the Devil in 1938, shortly after Think and Grow Rich, but it was not published until 2011. It uses a fictionalized interview with the Devil as a vehicle for discussing fear, conformity, drifting, negative thinking and personal freedom. (Napoleon Hill)
It therefore belongs in a complete Hill bibliography, but it should be clearly identified as a posthumously published work, rather than presented as a book published during his lifetime.
