First edition, 1952.

The Legacy of a ‘Positive Thinker’

Why has Norman Vincent Peale’s controversial bestseller survived?

It was the ultimate insult. In the early 1960s, the editors of the radical literary quarterly Dissent hosted a small conference in New York City with bestselling therapist Erich Fromm to discuss the Frankfurt School philosopher’s new manifesto of “ethical Socialism.” At one point, socialist icon…