The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and

RenownedHarvardscholarand"NewYorker"staffwriterJillLeporehaswrittenastrikinglyoriginal,ingeniouslyconceived,andbeautifullycraftedhistoryofAmericanideasaboutlifeanddeathfrombeforethecradletobeyondthegrave.Howdoeslifebegin?Whatdoesitmean?Whathappenswhenwedie?"Allanyonecandoisask,"Leporewrites."That'swhyanyhistoryofideasaboutlifeanddeathhastobe,likethisbook,ahistoryofcuriosity."Leporestartsthathistorywiththestoryofaseventeenth-centuryEnglishmanwhohadtheideathatalllifebeginswithanegg,andendsitwithanAmericanwho,inthe1970s,beganfreezingthedead.Inbetween,lifegotlonger,thestagesoflifemultiplied,andmattersoflifeanddeathmovedfromthelibrarytothelaboratory,fromthehumanitiestothesciences.Lately,debatesaboutlifeanddeathhavedeterminedthecourseofAmericanpolitics.Eachofthesedebateshasahistory.Investigatingthesurprisingoriginsofthestuffofeverydaylife--fromboardgamestobreastpumps--Leporearguesthattheageofdiscovery,Darwin,andtheSpaceAgeturnedideasaboutlifeonearthtopsy-turvy."Newworldswerefound,"shewrites,and"oldparadiseswerelost."Asmuchameditationonthepresentasanexcavationofthepast,"TheMansionofHappiness"isdelightful,learned,andaltogetherbeguiling.