The Pursuit of Happiness: A History from the Greeks to the Present

The paperback debut of a brilliant young cultural historian, in the tradition of Simon Schama and Peter Gay.

Happiness and its pursuit have been a constant source of fascination and attraction for thousands of years. In ancient Greek tragedy, happiness was considered a gift of the gods. Now we consider it a right. Why did this change and what does it tell us about our society? The Pursuit of Happiness offers a brilliant summation of the history of happiness, and its evolution from divine gift to natural human entitlement. Central to the development of Christianity, ideas of happiness assumed their modern form during the Enlightenment. Darrin McMahon follows this great search through to the present day, showing how our modern quest for the ‘holy grail’ of happiness continues to generate new forms of pleasure, but also, paradoxically, new forms of pain. Perfect happiness, like the holy grail, may exist only in our minds, and McMahon helps us discover that, as for Cervantes’ knight of sad countenance, Quixote, to travel is better than to arrive.