The Promise of Happinessis a provocative cultural critique of the imperative to be happy. It asks what follows when we make our desires & even our own happiness conditional on the happiness of others: “I just want you to be happy”; “I’m happy if you’re happy.”Combiningphilosophy&feminist cultural studies,Sara Ahmedreveals the affective and moral work performed by the“happiness duty,”the expectation that we will be made happy by taking part in that which is deemed good, and that by being happy ourselves, we will make others happy.Ahmedmaintains that happiness is a promise that directs us toward certain life choices & away from others.Happinessis promised to those willing to live their lives in the right way.Ahmeddraws on the intellectual history ofhappiness, from classical accounts of ethics as the good life, through 17th-century writings on affect & the passions, 18th-century debates on virtue & education, & 19th-century utilitarianism. She engages with feminist, antiracist, & queer critics who have shown howhappinessis used to justify social oppression, & how challenging oppression causesunhappiness.Reading novels & films includingMrs. Dalloway,The Well of Loneliness,Bend It Like Beckham, &Children of Men,Ahmedconsiders the plight of the figures who challenge & are challenged by the attribution ofhappinessto particular objects or social ideals: thefeminist killjoy, theunhappy queer, theangry black woman, & themelancholic migrant. Through her readings she raises critical questions about the moral order imposed by the injunction to behappy.°°°Sara Ahmedis a feminist writer & independent scholar who works at the intersection offeminist,queer, &race studies. Winner of the2017 Kessler AwardfromCLAGS, theCenter for LGBTQ Studies,Ahmedhas published ten books, including the cult classicLiving a Feminist Life.