When we think of success writing, it is often these pure motivational classics which first come to mind, yet few readers are aware of the historical development of the genre.

Horatio Alger and Orison Swett Marden grandfathered the modern success movement in the 19 th century, Alger with his entertaining and instructional stories of poor-boys-made-good, and Marden with his encyclopaedic treatment of success based on the lives of great people. Both prolific writers, these men raised the sights of a couple of generations, but what surprises is how inspiring they still are today. If you are lukewarm about contemporary success writing, these older-style success books - of which there are a surprising number - are a rich vein to tap. In the 1920s, Robert Collier's exploration of the mind's power was a forerunner to the work of Napoleon Hill, and the works of Florence Scovell Shinn, extraordinary in the way they provide peace of mind in times of challenge, began to find eager readers.

After World War Two, people naturally turned their thoughts to prosperity and 'getting ahead'. Millions of people had not had the opportunity of advanced education and had to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. They were inspired by titles such as Frank Bettger 's How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success in Selling (1947), which with its timeless principles of selling is still widely read today. Published a year later, Claude Bristol's idiosyncratic meditation on 'believing to succeed', The Magic of Believing, has also had amazing staying power. But perhaps the greatest success book of the post-war period, although not published until 1959, was Schwartz's The Magic of Thinking Big. Its references are mostly to suburban-corporate life in 1960s America, but its universal theme that 'the size of your success is measured by the size of your belief' quickly made it one of the landmarks in the motivational field.

Although Dale Carnegie speaking classes had been running for some time, it was only in the 1970s and 1980s that success became its own industry, driven by seminars and bestsellers. Figures such as Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Og Mandino, Tom Hopkins, Denis Waitley and Brian Tracy have become pillars of the motivational profession.

At the end of the 1980s, Stephen Covey, who for his doctorate had studied 200 years of success literature, published The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People . Its combination of character-based personal development in the style of a business book attracted a huge audience, and it could be said that he revived the success genre and gave it new gravitas. Meanwhile, a young Californian named Anthony Robbins was electrifying audiences with his rousing techniques of change. His first bestseller, Unlimited Power, borrowed from the emerging science of neuro-linguistic programming, and he remains the most well-known of present day gurus.

We need to be motivated to achieve success, but to stay successful requires uncommon wisdom. These books uncover some of the factors we may not be aware of in assisting the fulfilment of potential.

Spencer Johnson's Who Moved My Cheese? highlights the need to cope with change and to generate it if we are to remain at the cutting edge, while Jim Collins reminds us, through his study of great companies, why it is not enough to be merely excellent, but to be the best in our field. Richard Wiseman's recent The Luck Factor presents some intriguing new evidence to support his theory that good luck is not the product of chance, but can be attracted to us with the adoption of certain attitudes and personality traits.

Personal coaching is a relatively new phenomenon which promises dramatic increases in productivity and well-being, but what is it actually? Covered here are two of the seminal works in the field, Timothy Galllwey's Inner Game of Tennis, and John Whitmore's Coaching For Performance, but also two stand-out titles in the work/life balance area from life-planner Cheryl Richardson and sports trainers Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.

When published in 1992, Chin-ning Chu 's Thick Face Black Heart shook up the conventional Western wisdom on how to achieve, and should be read by any serious success scholar. Likewise the ancient Art of War, which despite its title is a work of philosophy which can provide the reader with a valuable win/win mindset for the accomplishment of serious goals. Both titles are a welcome alternative to the familiar diet of Western success wisdom.

Leadership writing traditionally discusses particular people only in order to illustrate a theory. While the list above does include On Becoming A Leader, a seminal work by a major leadership theorist, it is more interesting and perhaps more valuable to look at the lives of actual leaders, as we do here.

From the world of industry, the Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie has become a classic of personal achievement, charting a rise from poor Scottish boy to steel magnate to model philanthropist. Ford's My Life and Work is a richly enjoyable account of a comparatively late starter who changed the world by being both a great innovator and a master of organization. Less well-known is Edward Bok's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography, which charts the remarkable progress of a Dutch immigrant boy to become one of America 's leading editors and opinion leaders.

Leaping forward to the end of the 20 th century, Jack Welch's blunt yet humane account of his rise gives the reader a fly-on-the-wall insight into life at the top of a huge company, while Roger Lowenstein's biography of Warren Buffett gives a superb insight into a person recently put at the top of Fortune magazine's list of the '25 most powerful people in business'. Engrossing titles by Sam Walton, Michael Dell and Bill Marriott expand the list of great contemporary business leaders.

Donald T Phillips' Lincoln On Leadership, was one of the first of a new type of work extracting the leadership lessons of well-known figures and presenting them in a useable form. Two others of this ilk are Shackleton's Way, telling the gripping tale of the Antarctic Endurance expedition and its lessons to life in the business world, and Robin Gerber's analysis of the inspiring leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Last but far from least, a book mostly written while its author was in prison: Long Walk To Freedom, Nelson Mandela's often painful story of a life planned from birth for tribal leadership but diverted into a struggle to transform a whole nation - on the way creating perhaps the most admired leader of our time.

Prosperity and wealth titles have always been an important part of success literature. Benjamin Franklin knew the power of money to motivate back in 1758, when The Way To Wealth was first published in one of his almanacs. With a strong Puritan influence, it preached thrift, hard work, and the idea that 'time is money'.

In his sweeping The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, David Landes lists similar attributes among those nations who have done well. Some countries, like some people, are born luckier than others in terms of resources, but those who have built wealth through their own devices rise to the top. John Paul Getty, for instance, was the son of a well-off oil businessman, but as his autobiography reveals parlayed these merely good circumstances into a massive empire which left an important philanthropic legacy.

Thomas Stanley's The Millionaire Mind is a fascinating look into the habits and attitudes of hundreds of wealthy individuals, most of whom are self-made. Stanley concludes that the ability to spot opportunities, more than formal education, is a fundamental ingredient of financial success. Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad points out that the difference between being rich and poor is often boiled down to a person being bothered to develop some financial intelligence. On this theme, still going strong after seventy-years is George Clason's Richest Man in Babylon, which has taught millions of people how to build a fortune through 'paying yourself first'.

A more spiritual approach to financial success is expressed in the writings of Wallace Wattles and Catherine Ponder, who picture the world as an essentially abundant place which rewards those who appreciate the fact. Influenced by New Thought teachings, these authors provide a calmer, perhaps more enriching road to wealth focused on 'manifesting your good'.