Happiness - Tapa dura

This philosophical and satirical examination of man's perception of Heaven, hell and eternity written by a modern historian is in part a fable in the tradition of "Gulliver's Travels" or "Alice in Wonderland". A young reporter arrives in Paradise for a "tour d'horizon", among its glum and strangely disgruntled residents he meets Henry Ford, Viking Warlords, Kamikaze Pilots, The Seven Sages Of The Bamboo Grove and Cream of Pundit Soup with Clockwork Croutons. Only after a series of adventures involving sometimes comically troubled souls are the posssibilities of Paradise revealed. The author reveres the individual throughout history and emphasizes the necessary courage for each of us to be ourselves, to find a measure of happiness in this world. Theodore Zeldin is the author of "France 1848-1945" and "The French".