Are modern people happier than their counterparts in the past, or should they be? And are these constructive historical questions? Over the past several years we have been treated to a number of really interesting discussions about the possibility of charting the history of happiness. On the one side, there stand some very smart social scientists, armed with considerable data, deeply committed to the idea that the human condition has been improving and that, in our jaded academic circles, we are too ready to overlook these basic patterns. On the other are a variety of critics—certainly including many historians—eager to point out the impossibility of objectively defining happiness and the many modern obstacles to any happiness claims; their arguments are surely aided by the national mess we have found ourselves in over the past many months. This essay is not intended primarily to recapitulate the argument, though we will touch on the debate, but rather to ask a somewhat different question, aimed more directly at history teachers. To wit: granted the difficulties and uncertainties, indeed in part because of them, is it useful to consider using happiness— or at least the more neutral term “well-being”—as a theme in some of our survey courses? Again in the interests of honesty, the answer may well be no (though you might want to read this article anyway). First: we have a prior experience, as historians, with overoptimistic history that primarily served the interests of the

中文翻译：

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快乐的历史？

是现代人比过去的人们幸福吗？这些建设性的历史问题吗？在过去的几年中，我们经历了许多关于绘制幸福历史的可能性的有趣的讨论。一方面，有一些非常聪明的社会科学家，拥有大量数据，他们深信人类的状况正在改善，而在我们疲惫的学术界，我们已经准备好忽略这些基本模式。另一方面，各种各样的评论家（当然包括许多历史学家）渴望指出，客观地定义幸福的可能性以及对幸福主张的许多现代障碍是不可能的。他们的论点肯定得到了过去几个月来我们发现自己的民族混乱的帮助。尽管我们将讨论辩论，但本文的主要目的不是重述这一论点，而是提出一个略有不同的问题，更直接地针对历史老师。智慧：确实存在困难和不确定性，部分原因是因为存在这些困难和不确定性，在我们的一些调查课程中考虑将幸福（或至少是更中性的术语“幸福”）作为主题有用吗？再次出于诚实的利益，答案很可能不是（尽管您可能仍想阅读本文）。第一：我们作为历史学家具有过分乐观的历史经验，主要是为历史学家服务。承认困难和不确定性（确实部分是由于这些困难和不确定性）是否有用，在我们的一些调查课程中，考虑将幸福（或至少是更中性的术语“幸福”）作为主题？再次出于诚实的利益，答案很可能不是（尽管您可能仍想阅读本文）。第一：我们作为历史学家具有过分乐观的历史经验，主要是为历史学家服务。承认困难和不确定性（确实部分是由于这些困难和不确定性）是否有用，在我们的一些调查课程中，考虑将幸福（或至少是更中性的术语“幸福”）作为主题？再次出于诚实的利益，答案很可能不是（尽管您可能仍想阅读本文）。第一：我们作为历史学家具有过分乐观的历史经验，主要是为历史学家服务。