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Pursuing Happiness
Third Edition ©2027 Matthew Parfitt; Dawn Skorczewski Formats: E-book
As low as $20.99
As low as $20.99
Authors
-
Matthew Parfitt
Matthew Parfitt (Ph.D., Boston College) is an Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Chair of the Division of Rhetoric at Boston University’s College of General Studies. In 2002 he received the Peyton Richter Award for interdisciplinary teaching. He is author of Writing in Response and the coeditor of Conflicts and Crises in the Composition Classroom—And What Instructors Can Do About Them and Cultural Conversations: The Presence of the Past.
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Dawn Skorczewski
Dawn Skorczewski (Ph.D., Rutgers University) is Professor of English Emerita at Brandeis University, and Senior Lecturer at Amsterdam University College. Her books on the Holocaust include Sieg Maandag: Life and Art in the Aftermath of Bergen-Belsen (2020). and the forthcoming Arts of Invisibility, a book about Wim ten Broek, a painter who was in the Resistance. She has also written numerous articles about trauma, poetry, and self-transformation.
Table of Contents
About The Bedford Spotlight Reader Series
Preface for Instructors
Contents by Discipline
Contents by Theme
Introduction for Students
Chapter 1. What is Happiness
Aristotle, From Nicomachean Ethics
Selections from Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, Stoicism
Voltaire, The Good Brahmin
His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler, The Sources of Happiness
Noelle Oxenhandler, Ah, But the Breezes . . .
Darrin M. McMahon, From the Happiness of Virtue to the Virtue of Happiness: 400 BC−AD 1780
Martha C. Nussbaum, Who Is the Happy Warrior? Philosophy Poses Questions to Psychology
Sara Ahmed, Happiness and Queer Politics
Zadie Smith, Joy
Chapter 2. What Makes People Happy?
Gretchen Rubin, July: Buy Some Happiness (Moved from Chapter 4)
Michael Argyle and Peter Hills, The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, If We Are So Rich, Why Aren’t We Happy?
National Academy of Sciences, Global Well-Being Ladder
Sonja Lyubomirsky, How Happy Are You and Why?
Ed Diener and Martin Seligman, Very Happy People
Denise de Ridder, Can Self-Control Make You Happy?
Susan Dominus, How Nearly a Century of Happiness Research Led to One Big Finding
Chapter 3. Should We Pursue Happiness?
Jennifer Michael Hecht, Remembering Death
Emily Esfahani Smith, There’s More to Life Than Being Happy
Naomi Shihab Nye, Kindness
David Brooks, What Suffering Does
Molly Young, My Miserable Week in the “Happiest Country on Earth”
David Robson, Why It’s Time to Stop Pursuing Happiness
James Traub, Our “Pursuit of Happiness” Is Killing the Planet
Karen Karbo, Your Best Self Is Like an Imaginary Beloved
Chapter 4. Does Happiness Vary Across Cultures?
Mohsen Joshanloo and Dan Weijers, Aversion to Happiness across Cultures
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Kiyoshi Asakawa, Universal and Cultural Dimensions of Optimal Experiences
Owen Flanagan et al., Happiness and Well-Being in Contemporary China
Rémy Ngamije, Love Is a Washing Line
Hyacinth Udah et al., Ubuntu Philosophy, Values, and Principles: An Opportunity to Do Social Work Differently
World Happiness Report, Caring and Sharing: Global Analysis of Happiness and Kindness
Chapter 5. Is the Digital Age Working Against Happiness?
Paul Bloom, A.I. Is About to Solve Loneliness. That’s a Problem
Jonathan Haidt, End the Phone-Based Childhood Now
Mark Coeckelbergh, The Technology: Categorized, Measured, Quantified, and Enhanced, or Why AI Knows Us Better Than Ourselves
Sam Apple, My Couples Retreat with 3 AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them
Allison J. Pugh, The Unseen
Aimée Morrison, Meta-Writing: AI and Writing
Acknowledgements
Index of Authors and Titles
Product Updates
- 20 New Readings Spotlight Happiness from Ancient Rome Through Today. From Aristotle to Artificial Intelligence, the anthology adds 20 fresh selections that provide philosophical background to happiness and reflect current topics that give students themes for substantive discussion. Highlights include selections on Stoicism from Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius; Zadie Smith’s, “Joy;” and Jonathan Haidt’s, “End the Phone-Based Childhood Now.”
- Reimagined Chapter Framework. One new Chapter, Does Happiness Vary Across Cultures?; one newly titled chapter, Should We Pursue Happiness?; and one freshly updated chapter, Is The Digital Age Working Against Happiness? help students contextualize happiness within their own lives.
- Broader Range of Genres & Voices offer students a richer rhetorical mix. The author roster is more diverse than ever, ensuring a multitude of voices for each topic.
Authors
-
Matthew Parfitt
Matthew Parfitt (Ph.D., Boston College) is an Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Chair of the Division of Rhetoric at Boston University’s College of General Studies. In 2002 he received the Peyton Richter Award for interdisciplinary teaching. He is author of Writing in Response and the coeditor of Conflicts and Crises in the Composition Classroom—And What Instructors Can Do About Them and Cultural Conversations: The Presence of the Past.
-
Dawn Skorczewski
Dawn Skorczewski (Ph.D., Rutgers University) is Professor of English Emerita at Brandeis University, and Senior Lecturer at Amsterdam University College. Her books on the Holocaust include Sieg Maandag: Life and Art in the Aftermath of Bergen-Belsen (2020). and the forthcoming Arts of Invisibility, a book about Wim ten Broek, a painter who was in the Resistance. She has also written numerous articles about trauma, poetry, and self-transformation.
Table of Contents
About The Bedford Spotlight Reader Series
Preface for Instructors
Contents by Discipline
Contents by Theme
Introduction for Students
Chapter 1. What is Happiness
Aristotle, From Nicomachean Ethics
Selections from Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, Stoicism
Voltaire, The Good Brahmin
His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler, The Sources of Happiness
Noelle Oxenhandler, Ah, But the Breezes . . .
Darrin M. McMahon, From the Happiness of Virtue to the Virtue of Happiness: 400 BC−AD 1780
Martha C. Nussbaum, Who Is the Happy Warrior? Philosophy Poses Questions to Psychology
Sara Ahmed, Happiness and Queer Politics
Zadie Smith, Joy
Chapter 2. What Makes People Happy?
Gretchen Rubin, July: Buy Some Happiness (Moved from Chapter 4)
Michael Argyle and Peter Hills, The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, If We Are So Rich, Why Aren’t We Happy?
National Academy of Sciences, Global Well-Being Ladder
Sonja Lyubomirsky, How Happy Are You and Why?
Ed Diener and Martin Seligman, Very Happy People
Denise de Ridder, Can Self-Control Make You Happy?
Susan Dominus, How Nearly a Century of Happiness Research Led to One Big Finding
Chapter 3. Should We Pursue Happiness?
Jennifer Michael Hecht, Remembering Death
Emily Esfahani Smith, There’s More to Life Than Being Happy
Naomi Shihab Nye, Kindness
David Brooks, What Suffering Does
Molly Young, My Miserable Week in the “Happiest Country on Earth”
David Robson, Why It’s Time to Stop Pursuing Happiness
James Traub, Our “Pursuit of Happiness” Is Killing the Planet
Karen Karbo, Your Best Self Is Like an Imaginary Beloved
Chapter 4. Does Happiness Vary Across Cultures?
Mohsen Joshanloo and Dan Weijers, Aversion to Happiness across Cultures
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Kiyoshi Asakawa, Universal and Cultural Dimensions of Optimal Experiences
Owen Flanagan et al., Happiness and Well-Being in Contemporary China
Rémy Ngamije, Love Is a Washing Line
Hyacinth Udah et al., Ubuntu Philosophy, Values, and Principles: An Opportunity to Do Social Work Differently
World Happiness Report, Caring and Sharing: Global Analysis of Happiness and Kindness
Chapter 5. Is the Digital Age Working Against Happiness?
Paul Bloom, A.I. Is About to Solve Loneliness. That’s a Problem
Jonathan Haidt, End the Phone-Based Childhood Now
Mark Coeckelbergh, The Technology: Categorized, Measured, Quantified, and Enhanced, or Why AI Knows Us Better Than Ourselves
Sam Apple, My Couples Retreat with 3 AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them
Allison J. Pugh, The Unseen
Aimée Morrison, Meta-Writing: AI and Writing
Acknowledgements
Index of Authors and Titles
Product Updates
- 20 New Readings Spotlight Happiness from Ancient Rome Through Today. From Aristotle to Artificial Intelligence, the anthology adds 20 fresh selections that provide philosophical background to happiness and reflect current topics that give students themes for substantive discussion. Highlights include selections on Stoicism from Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius; Zadie Smith’s, “Joy;” and Jonathan Haidt’s, “End the Phone-Based Childhood Now.”
- Reimagined Chapter Framework. One new Chapter, Does Happiness Vary Across Cultures?; one newly titled chapter, Should We Pursue Happiness?; and one freshly updated chapter, Is The Digital Age Working Against Happiness? help students contextualize happiness within their own lives.
- Broader Range of Genres & Voices offer students a richer rhetorical mix. The author roster is more diverse than ever, ensuring a multitude of voices for each topic.
A brief and versatile reader at an affordable price.
Pursuing Happiness: A Bedford Spotlight Reader explores enduring questions about happiness, meaning, and well-being through readings from philosophers, psychologists, spiritual leaders, ethicists, economists, and other influential thinkers. It examines questions around the central concept of what makes us happy: What is happiness? What Makes People Happy? Should We Pursue Happiness? Does Happiness Vary Across Cultures? Is the Digital Age Working Against Happiness?
Thought-provoking questions and writing assignments accompanying each reading help students strengthen critical thinking, analysis, and academic writing skills while engaging with diverse perspectives on happiness and human experience.
FAQs
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Canadian Stores: Please use only the first five digits/letters in your zip code on MOST.
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Learn more about our Bookstore programs here: https://www.macmillanlearning.com/college/us/contact-us/booksellers
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If you’re a verified instructor, you can request a free sample of our courseware, e-book, or print textbook to consider for use in your courses. Only registered and verified instructors can receive free print and digital samples, and they should not be sold to bookstores or book resellers. If you don't yet have an existing account with Macmillan Learning, it can take up to two business days to verify your status as an instructor. You can request a free sample from the right side of this product page by clicking on the "Request Instructor Sample" button or by contacting your rep. Learn more.
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Sometimes also referred to as a spiral-bound or binder-ready textbook, loose-leaf textbooks are available to purchase. This three-hole punched, unbound version of the book costs less than a hardcover or paperback book.
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We can help! Contact your representative to discuss your specific needs for your course. If our off-the-shelf course materials don’t quite hit the mark, we also offer custom solutions made to fit your needs.
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FAQs
-
-
Are you a campus bookstore looking for ordering information?
MPS Order Search Tool (MOST) is a web-based purchase order tracking program that allows customers to view and track their purchases. No registration or special codes needed! Just enter your BILL-TO ACCT # and your ZIP CODE to track orders.
Canadian Stores: Please use only the first five digits/letters in your zip code on MOST.
Visit MOST, our online ordering system for booksellers: https://tracking.mpsvirginia.com/Login.aspx
Learn more about our Bookstore programs here: https://www.macmillanlearning.com/college/us/contact-us/booksellers
-
-
-
Our courses currently integrate with Canvas, Blackboard (Learn and Ultra), Brightspace, D2L, and Moodle. Click on the support documentation below to find out more details about the integration with each LMS.
Integrate Macmillan courses with Blackboard
Integrate Macmillan courses with Canvas
-
-
-
If you’re a verified instructor, you can request a free sample of our courseware, e-book, or print textbook to consider for use in your courses. Only registered and verified instructors can receive free print and digital samples, and they should not be sold to bookstores or book resellers. If you don't yet have an existing account with Macmillan Learning, it can take up to two business days to verify your status as an instructor. You can request a free sample from the right side of this product page by clicking on the "Request Instructor Sample" button or by contacting your rep. Learn more.
-
-
-
Sometimes also referred to as a spiral-bound or binder-ready textbook, loose-leaf textbooks are available to purchase. This three-hole punched, unbound version of the book costs less than a hardcover or paperback book.
-
-
-
We can help! Contact your representative to discuss your specific needs for your course. If our off-the-shelf course materials don’t quite hit the mark, we also offer custom solutions made to fit your needs.
-
Pursuing Happiness
Pursuing Happiness: A Bedford Spotlight Reader explores enduring questions about happiness, meaning, and well-being through readings from philosophers, psychologists, spiritual leaders, ethicists, economists, and other influential thinkers. It examines questions around the central concept of what makes us happy: What is happiness? What Makes People Happy? Should We Pursue Happiness? Does Happiness Vary Across Cultures? Is the Digital Age Working Against Happiness?
Thought-provoking questions and writing assignments accompanying each reading help students strengthen critical thinking, analysis, and academic writing skills while engaging with diverse perspectives on happiness and human experience.
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