Norman Vincent Peale

===Radio and publishing===
In the same period, Peale returned to the radio work that he began in Syracuse, as a means to deal with what he termed a personal obsession, "reach[ing] as many people as I could with the message of Jesus Christ."<ref name=":0" /> His first programs in New York City began in 1935, an effort which led to the [[National Council of Churches]] sponsoring a program on the [[NBC Radio Network]] entitled ''The Art of Living'', which would grow to reach millions.<ref name=":0" />

This title then became the same as first of his books from New York City, in 1937, from [[Abingdon Press]], which spoke of a power that individuals had within themselves that they could "tap" through "applied Christianity".<ref name=":0" /> With the advent of war in 1939, his second book appeared from Abingdon, ''"You Can Win'', which spoke of the tensions of life, the possibility of self-mastery, and ones being one unconquerable with God.<ref name=":0" /> Despite a clear and apparent philosophy and message, the books did not "advis[e] people how to apply [the ideas] to their lives," and they did not sell well.<ref name=":0" /> (Some of his other works include ''The Tough-Minded Optimist'',{{when|date = January 2022}} and ''Inspiring Messages for Daily Living''.{{when|date = January 2022}}{{Citation needed|date = August 2015}}) By the end of [[World War II]] in 1945, Peale, his wife [[Ruth Stafford Peale|Ruth]], and Raymond Thornburg (a businessman from [[Pawling (town), New York|Pawling, New York]]), had founded ''[[Guideposts]]'' magazine, a non-denominational forum that presented inspirational stories.{{citation needed|date = January 2022}}

With the end of the [[World War II|war]]—which was marked, in the words of George Vecsey, writing in ''[[The New York Times]]'', by Americans having "some leeway to question what they believed and how they should live"—Peale achieved his first best seller, published with Prentice-Hall in 1948, a [[self-help]] book entitled ''A Guide for Confident Living'' that brought religion to bear on personal problems.<ref name=":0" /> This was followed soon thereafter by the book for which he is most widely known, ''[[The Power of Positive Thinking]]''; as Vecsey describes it, it arose from a draft book that Ruth Peale "sent to [an] editor without her husband's knowledge", and this usurpation led to a book that would remain on best seller lists for more than three years, which "rank[ed] it... behind the Bible... as one of the highest-selling spiritual books in history".<ref name=":0" />

Vecsey was careful to categorize Peale's book as a best seller in the narrow "spiritual books" category rather than comparing it to the much larger sales figures of the non-fiction or self-help categories. First published in 1952, it stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 186<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/31/nyregion/chronicle-254657.html | work=[[The New York Times]] | title=Chronicle | first=Ron | last=Alexander | date=May 31, 1994 | access-date=May 20, 2010}}</ref> consecutive weeks, and according to the publisher, Simon and Schuster, the book has sold around 5 million copies. The fact that the book has sold 5 million copies is printed on the cover of the current edition in both paperback and hard cover, and directly contradicts exaggerated claims that the book has sold more than 20 million copies<ref name="desmoinesreg">from the [https://archive.today/20130121190333/http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/FAMOUSIOWANS/807130350/-1/famousiowans Des Moines Register website] in an article dated October 8, 2008</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-feb-08-me-peale8-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=February 8, 2008 |title=Pastor's wife co-founded Guideposts }}</ref> in 42 languages.<ref name="desmoinesreg" /> The publisher also contradicts the translation claim, saying the book has been translated into only 15 languages.<ref>publisher's statement on amazon.com describing several TPOPT books, tapes and other media</ref> Nearly half of the sales of the book (2.1 mil.) occurred before 1958,<ref>{{cite news |title=Pitchman in the Pulpit |last=Fuller |first=Edmund |author-link=Edmund Fuller|work=[[Saturday Review (U.S. magazine)|Saturday Review]]|date=March 19, 1957 |pages=28–30 }}</ref> and by 1963, the book had still only sold 2 million copies according to Peale.<ref>''The Power of Positive Thinking'', Fawcett Crest, 1963, pp. vii.</ref> Since then, the book has sold less than 3 million copies over the past 60 years. Some of his other popular works include The Art of Living, A Guide to Confident Living, The Tough-Minded Optimist, and Inspiring Messages for Daily Living.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

The Peale radio program, ''The Art of Living'', was ongoing, and would continue for 54 years, and under the continued and evolving sponsorship of the National Council of Churches, he moved into television when the new medium arrived.{{citation needed|date = January 2022}} In the meantime he continued to write books and to edit ''[[Guideposts (magazine)|Guideposts]]'' magazine. As well, his [[sermons]] went out monthly to an extensive mailing list.<ref>[http://www.usdreams.com/Peale28.html USdreams.com Norman Vincent Peale: Turning America On To Positive Thinking]</ref>