Supported by personal experience, Helen Wilmans discusses the steps to overcoming poverty in The Conquest of Poverty. With inspiring energy, she retells her rise from mortgage and debt to opulence. Wilmans gives advice and emphasizes the importance and autonomy of the individual. If he knows himself, she argues, "he has the privilege of being what he wishes to be, of doing what he wishes to do."HELEN WILMANS (1831-1907) was an American publisher, writer, and activist in the mental science movement. She was the publisher of her own newspaper, The Woman's World and of the weekly magazine Freedom. Wilmans was independently wealthy, having left her husband of twenty years and farm life for California to become a "literary woman." After tutelage under Emma Curtis Hopkins, she began teaching and healing using metaphysics, becoming well-known for her pioneer work in the mental science.