American self-help author Oliver Napoleon Hill was born on October 26, 1883, and passed away on November 8, 1970. His 1937 self-help classic Think and Grow Rich, which is among the best-selling self-help books of all time, is his most famous work. In his writings, Hill stressed that having high hopes is necessary for improving one's life. The majority of his works were marketed as laying out guidelines for achieving "success". Hill is a contentious character in today's society. Modern historians, who accuse him of fraud, also cast doubt on many of his assertions, including that he knew Andrew Carnegie and was a lawyer. He has been referred to as "the most famous conman you've probably never heard of '' by Gizmodo. Hill traveled to Tazewell, Virginia, after finishing high school at the age of seventeen to enroll in business school. Hill agreed to work for attorney Rufus A. in 1901. Hill's publications, which are recommended reading for New Thought, were influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson's works and the New Thought ideology.