ABSTRACT
The history of happiness is a flourishing field, underpinned by the “positive turn” in the academy. This introduction to the Routledge History of Handbook highlights the breadth of scholarship that explores the ideas and experiences of happiness from the far past to the present. This chapter also introduces the current volume, its contribution and extension of scholarship, and its key themes. The history of happiness is closely associated with progress and this volume complicates and expands happiness’ evolution across the centuries.
