Happiness: a history

Darrin M McMahon

Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006 - History - 544 pages

Darrin M. McMahon's sweeping new book, chronicling the evolution of happiness over two thousand years of Western culture and thought, argues that our modern belief in happiness -- that happiness is a natural right -- is a relatively recent development. It is a product of a dramatic revolution in human expectations carried out since the eighteenth century. Central to the development of Christianity, ideas of happiness assumed their modern form during the Enlightenment, when men and women were first introduced to the novel prospect that they could -- in fact should -- be happy in this life as opposed to the hereafter. Ultimately, the Enlightenment's recognition of happiness as a motivating ideal led to its consecration in the Declaration of Independence and France's Declaration of the Rights of Man. McMahon follows this great pursuit through to the present day, showing how our modern search for happiness continues to generate new forms of pleasure, but also, paradoxically, new forms of pain. In the tradition of works by Peter Gay and Simon Schama, "Happiness" draws on numerous sources, including art and architecture, poetry and scripture, music and theology, literature and myth to offer a sweeping intellectual history of man's most elusive yet coveted goal.

What people are saying

Review: Happiness: A History

User Review  - Michael Fong - Goodreads

There are those who say "You can never be sure" and "There's so much to know before you can be sure". Such folk, when scaffolded by education, become Darrin McMahon. I've for long thought of most ...

Review: Happiness: A History

User Review  - Eddy Allen - Goodreads

Today, human beings tend to think of happiness as a natural right. But they haven't always felt this way. For the ancient Greeks, happiness meant virtue. For the Romans, it implied prosperity and ...

Contents

• THE TRAGEDY OF HAPPINESS I: 1
• THE HIGHEST GOOD: 19
• PERPETUAL FELICITY: 66
• FROM HEAVEN TO EARTH: 140
• SELFEVIDENT TRUTHS: 197
• A MODERN RITE: 253
• QUESTIONING THE EVIDENCE: 271
• LIBERALISM AND ITS DISCONTENTS: 312
• BUILDING HAPPY WORLDS: 363
• JOYFUL SCIENCE: 406
• HAPPY ENDING: 454
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: 481
• INDEX: 529

About the author

New York University

Bibliographic information

• Title: Happiness: a history
• Author: Darrin M McMahon
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006
• ISBN: 0871138867, 9780871138866
• Length: 544 pages
• Subjects: History / Social History; Social Science / Customs & Traditions