The Power of Positive Thinking Happiness," published in 1950, and "Inspiring Messages for Daily Living", published in 1955. "The Power of Positive Thinking" appeared at a time when Christian church attendance was drastically increasing, national views of spirituality, individuality, and religion were shifting, and the Cold War was a growing concern for many Americans. These factors, as well as Peale's growing popularity as a motivational public figure and the book's clear prose, propelled "The Power of Positive Thinking" into a self-help book still popular today. Peale begins by stating ten rules for “overcoming inadequacy attitudes and learning to practice faith”. The rules include the following:
The Year of Magical Thinking made his remaining time more meaningful. Fleeting memories of events and persistent snippets of past conversations with John take on a new significance. Her daughter's continuing health problems and hospitalizations further compound and interrupt the natural course of grief. Didion wrote "The Year of Magical Thinking" between October 4, 2004, and December 31 the same year, completing it a year and a day after Dunne died. Notes she made during Quintana's hospitalizations became part of the book. Quintana Roo Dunne Michael died of pancreatitis on August 26, 2005, before the publication of the book, but Didion told the press that