William Walker Atkinson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1862. Atkinson became an attorney in 1894, a career move that led to financial success but precipitated a complete mental and breakdown. He coped with his breakdown by reading New Thought literature, and became an important and influential figure within the early movement., publishing magazines such as Suggestion, New Thought, and Advanced Thought, as well as contributing to Elizabeth Towne's The Nautilus. Atkinson was the author of The Secret of  Success, as well as many titles written under pseudonyms such as Yogi Ramacharka, The Three Initiates, and Theron Q.Dumont. An honorary president of the International New Thought Alliance, Atkinson died in California in 1932.