One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life

By Mitch Horowitz

Categories: Politics & Social Sciences, Religion & Spirituality

Historian Mitch Horowitz traces the history of positive thinking, the idea that our thoughts shape our reality. He follows the movement from nineteenth-century New Thought and mind-cure healers through Norman Vincent Peale, Napoleon Hill and The Secret, and shows its influence on American religion, business, medicine and politics. Horowitz weighs its excesses and strengths and argues it deserves to be taken seriously.

Recommended by 1 person

• Shane Parrish: “As a balance to The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking I thought I’d read this book, an exploration of the roots and methods of positive thinking. For better or worse, “positive thinking” has become the “unifying element” of the Western search for meaning.”