The Richest Man in Babylon

George Clason (1874-1926) is an American author and businessman from Missouri, best known for his pamphlets on personal financial success that he distributed through banks in the early part of the 20th century. Clason’s background as an entrepreneur informs his work; he emphasizes the necessity of hard work and providing for oneself, regardless of socioeconomic background. He does not make any moral judgments about greed or wealth, instead presenting wealth as positive and poverty as negative. His view of money as a direct measure of success is present throughout his work. Clason was a businessman himself; he owned the Clason Map Company and the Clason Publishing Company, which published the first road atlas from the United States to Canada. These businesses did not survive the Great Depression, which devastated the American economy in 1929.

Arkad is the character referred to as “the richest man in Babylon,” the phrase that gives the book its name. Arkad is a key figure in the text and features as the source of financial knowledge in several chapters. He goes from being a poor scribe to a wealthy landowner and investor by following financial advice from Algamish, another wealthy, self-made man.