W. D. Wattles

About W. D. Wattles

Wallace D. Wattles (1860–1911) was an American writer and lecturer associated with the New Thought movement, a loose set of teachings holding that right thinking shapes health, prosperity, and well-being. Little is firmly recorded about his early life, and he worked across self-improvement subjects rather than in one fixed profession. He wrote this book and two companion volumes in the years before his death in 1911, so the work reflects the final stage of his output. It was written in the United States during the Progressive Era, a period of industrial growth, sharp debate over wealth and labor, and a large audience for popular advice on success. Readers should watch for several things. The central claim that a particular way of thinking produces material results is presented as a law without supporting evidence. The text treats poverty largely as a failure of mindset, which overlooks structural causes. Its spiritual vocabulary, including references to a formless creative Substance, is metaphysical rather than scientific, despite the title. Its influence on later self-help is real and worth reading critically.