The History of New Thought: From Mind Cure to Positive Thinking and the Prosperity Gospel

Long before The Secret, writers and healers in the New Thought movement argued that the mind shapes reality. In this clear, wide‑ranging history, John S. Haller Jr. traces New Thought from its nineteenth‑century roots—Phineas P. Quimby, Emma Curtis Hopkins, and others—through William Walker Atkinson, an early popularizer of the “law of attraction,” to its imprint on modern self‑help and popular psychology.

Rather than centering on denominations, Haller follows people, practices, and ideas: mental healing, affirmations, prosperity teachings, and the movement’s dialogue with science and religion (including the influence of the Swedish scientist, mystic and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg). He shows how New Thought migrated from lectures and magazines into boardrooms, pulpits, and bestsellers, shaping a durable American optimism: the conviction that thought can transform life.

The History of New Thought is essential reading for anyone interested in American religious history, psychology, or the roots of contemporary self‑help.

New Thought is a diverse movement whose practitioners have only one thing in common: a belief in the power of the mind to bring health, wealth, and fulfillment. In this comprehensive history of New Thought, John Haller traces its roots from the earliest influences to the mind-cure speculations of the late nineteenth century, and shows how its initial emphasis on healing disease morphed into a vision of the mind’s ability to bring us whatever we desire. Authors like Dale Carnegie, Norman Vincent Peale, and, more recently, Rhonda Byrne are eagerly read and embraced by millions of people who remain unaware that these writers are merely repeating ideas introduced decades before. The History of New Thought demonstrates the broad and lasting impact that this movement has had on American culture.