num_pages: 471
description: With her trademark style wit sensitivity and spontaneity Maira Kalman guides a whirlwind tour of American democracy.And the Pursuit of Happiness is beloved artist and author Maira Kalman's yearlong investigation of democracy and how it works. Energized and inspired by the 2008 elections on inauguration day Kalman traveled to Washington D.C. launching a national tour that would take her from a town hall meeting in Newfane Vermont to the inner chambers of the Supreme Court.As we follow Kalman's wholly idiosyncratic journey we fall in love with Lincoln alongside her as she imagines making a home for herself in the center of his magisterial memorial; ponder Alexis de Tocqueville's America; witness the inner workings of a Bronx middle-school student council; take a high-speed lesson in great American women in the National Portrait Gallery; and consider the cost of war to the brave American service families of Fort Campbell Kentucky. The observations she makes as she travels charm and inform and-as we have come to expect with Kalman-the route is always one of fascinating indirection.Kalman finds evidence of democracy at work all around us. And the cast of characters we meet along the way is rousing good company featuring visits from Benjamin Franklin Eleanor Roosevelt and many others. And the Pursuit of Happiness is a remarkable tribute to our history and a powerful reminder of the potential our future holds from a true national treasure. Watch a Video
language: English
title: And the Pursuit of Happiness
publisher: Penguin Press