This compelling cultural history explores the evolution of happiness over two millennia. While modern society views happiness as a fundamental right, Darrin McMahon argues that this belief is a relatively recent phenomenon, emerging from a significant shift in human expectations since the eighteenth century. He examines this transformation by weaving together two thousand years of political, cultural, and philosophical thought. In ancient Greek tragedy, happiness was seen as a divine gift, while the Romans linked it to eroticism. Although happiness played a crucial role in Christianity, it was during the Enlightenment that the concept evolved into its contemporary form, with the revolutionary idea that individuals could—and should—pursue happiness in this life as well as in the next. This shift ultimately influenced foundational documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Rights of Man. McMahon traces the ongoing quest for happiness to the present, revealing how it fosters new pleasures but also introduces new pains. He suggests that perfect happiness, akin to the Holy Grail, may reside only in our imaginations, and like Cervantes' Quixote, the journey toward happiness may hold more value than the destination itself. Drawing from diverse sources, this work offers a rich history of humanity's most sought-after yet elusive aspiration.
Darrin M. McMahon Books
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 divine favor. For Christians, happiness was synonymous with God. Throughout history, happiness has been equated regularly with the highest human calling, the most perfect human state. Yet it’s only within the past two hundred years that human beings have begun to think of happiness as not just an earthly possibility but also as an earthly entitlement, even an obligation. In this sweeping new book, historian Darrin M. McMahon argues that our modern belief in happiness is the product of a dramatic revolution in human expectations carried out since the eighteenth century.In the tradition of works by Peter Gay and Simon Schama, Happiness draws on a multitude of sources, including art and architecture, poetry and scripture, music and theology, and literature and myth, to offer a sweeping intellectual history of man’s most elusive yet coveted goal.