Segment from The Pursuit

So Happy Together

Comma Chameleon

Producer Jessica Smith reports on an entire conference dedicated to a mysterious smudge on the Declaration of Independence — found right after the word “Happiness.”

00:08:45

So Happy Together

The hosts explore the different meanings Americans have given, over the centuries, to the idea of pursuing happiness.

00:07:08

Don’t Worry — Be Happy!

Author Barbara Ehrenreich describes the New Thought movement, which urged Americans in the late 1800s to embrace positivity over pious suffering.

00:08:15

Laugh It Up, Fuzzball

Producer Bruce Wallace has the story of a peculiar craze in the 1920s, when recordings of people laughing broke the charts.

00:08:17

Psychiatrist Robert Waldinger tells host Brian Balogh about a longitudinal study at Harvard that was meant to track professional success, but starting turning up data of a different sort: on happiness and well-being.

00:09:17