George Samuel Clason (1874-1957) was an American author and entrepreneur. He served in the United States Army during the Spanish-American War before beginning a long career in publishing. Clason founded the Clason Map Company of Denver, Colorado, and published some of the first road atlases of the United States and Canada. In 1926 he wrote the first of a series of pamphlets on thrift and financial success, using parables set in ancient Babylon to make each of his points. These “Babylonian parables” were published to great success as The Richest Man in Babylon.

Tom Butler-Bowdon is editor of the Capstone Classics series and has written introductions to Machiavelli’s The Prince, Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, and Wallace Wattles’ The Science of Getting Rich. A graduate of the London School of Economics, he is also the author of 50 Success Classics, 50 Business Classics, and 50 Economics Classics.