Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

A stunning and sweeping new work of narrative history from bestselling historian Peter Moore, tracing the Enlightenment ideas that birthed the United States of America.

Bestselling historian Peter Moore traces how Enlightenment ideas were exported from Britain and put into practice in America—where they became the most successful export of all time, the American Dream.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness is frequently evoked today as shorthand for the American Dream. But this is a line with a surprising history. Rather than being uniquely American, the vision it encapsulates—of a free and happy world—owes a great deal to British thinkers too.

Centred on the life of Benjamin Franklin and featuring figures like the cultural giant Samuel Johnson, the groundbreaking historian Catharine Macaulay, and the firebrand politician and revolutionary activist Thomas Paine, this book examines the generation that preceded the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It takes us back to a vital moment in the foundation of the West and tells a whole new story about the birth of the United States of America—and some of the key principles by which we live to this day.

'Absorbing... fascinating... eloquent' THE TIMES

'Engaging and thoroughly reader-friendly' TELEGRAPH

'Wonderfully absorbing and stimulating' SARAH BAKEWELL

'Deft insights and in clear prose' ALAN TAYLOR

'A gripping account' STELLA TILLYARD

'Rollicking...compulsive readability' WASHINGTON POST

'A great read' LADY HALE