Dr. Orison Swett Marden, considered to be the founder of the modern Success and Self-Help Movement in America, was a self-made man. He was the son of poor parents, born on a New England farm in 1850. Orphaned at age nine, he put himself through school earning graduation from Boston University in 1871, an M.D. at Harvard in 1881, and an LL.B. degree, also at Harvard, in 1882. He took Doctorate from Boston University. Dr. Marden wrote more than 50 motivational and inspirational titles. Most of the successful, great motivational and inspirational speakers and authors of the 20th century studied Dr. Marden. His writings, expressing cheerful optimism and confidence, certainly bridged the gap between the old, narrow notions of success and the new, more comprehensive models made popular by best-selling authors such as Napoleon Hill, W. Clement Stone, Dale Carnegie, Og Mandino, Earl Nightingale, Norman Vincent Peale, and today's authors Stephen R. Covey, Anthony Robbins, and Brian Tracy.