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A history -- chronicling 2,000 years of evolution of thought
Atlantic Monthly Press
January 2006
560 pages ISBN: 0871138867 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction | Historical
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.
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