Happier?

Daniel Horowitz brings genuine scholarly rigor to a subject that rarely gets it, tracing the happiness movement from Frankl and Maslow through to the positive psychology boom with critical eyes wide open. The provocation at the heart of the book — has any of this actually made Americans happier, or has it just sold products and discouraged political action — is the right question, and Horowitz has the chops to ask it seriously. Dense in places, but rewarding for readers who want more than another self-help manifesto.